NUTS-3 FRF21 · France
Population
262,9922025
GDP
€8,501M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.1%2025
Active firms
48,7342026
Cadastral parcels
575,5902026
Area
5,248.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF21 · FRC22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Jura (46). Contrarian pick: Jura — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 75).
#2Jura
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (85)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Ardennes
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 8) — Jura may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ardennes · Manufacturing → Jura · Office → Jura · Residential → Jura.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
53.6
46.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.3
59.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.4
51.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
85.3
85.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
50.0
44.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
44.0
61.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.0
23.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
2.2% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.8% 5y
7.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,325
€32,998
Population density
50 /km²
51 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,189
2,497
Firms per 1k pop
185
228
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,582M
€7,577M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€414M
€246M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,951M
€1,917M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,224M
€1,809M
GVA — construction (F)
€383M
€501M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,403M
€1,167M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,400
€22,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,400 PPS
30,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
€32,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,131M
€8,575M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,531M
€1,453M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,820M
€19,541M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€958M
€1,239M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€570M
€45M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,437M
€1,879M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,994M
€1,867M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,452M
€7,556M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,767
€86,655
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,936M
€1,957M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,400
99,700
Self-employed persons
11,400
12,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
17,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
19.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
112,900
110,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,991
17,501
Enterprise births
1,798
2,147
Enterprise deaths
1,390
1,683
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
2.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
5.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.8%
37.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.0%
44.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.6%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.6%
7.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,672
1,930,962
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,922 kt
8,617 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,414
762
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
13 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
538
297
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
66
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
155,823
150,286
Population aged 65+
63,919
66,065
Population aged under 15
43,250
40,551
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
47.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
44.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.4 /1k
-2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
1.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
11.6 /1k
Live births
2,161
1,895
Deaths
2,837
2,975
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.8%
70.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
51 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
196,030
215,359
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.9%
19.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.8 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.9%
15.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
506 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
930 /100k
853 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
1.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.4 /100k
19.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
417 /100k
320 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
1,119 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
64 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
192 m
550 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
64 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
20 days/yr