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 · FRJ28
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Tarn-et-Garonne (45). Contrarian pick: Tarn-et-Garonne — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Talent & skills (92) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 12 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) — Tarn-et-Garonne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ardennes · Manufacturing → Ardennes · Office → Tarn-et-Garonne · Residential → Tarn-et-Garonne.
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
45.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.3
65.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.4
54.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
85.3
65.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
50.0
37.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
44.0
91.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.0
49.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.8% 5y
3.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,325
€28,384
Population density
50 /km²
72 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,189
2,565
Firms per 1k pop
185
234
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,582M
€6,763M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€414M
€171M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,951M
€1,123M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,224M
€616M
GVA — construction (F)
€383M
€490M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,403M
€1,285M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,400
€23,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,400 PPS
26,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
€28,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,131M
€27,134M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,531M
€3,274M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,820M
€63,709M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€958M
€1,111M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€570M
€128M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,437M
€1,843M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,994M
€1,851M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,452M
€6,843M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,767
€76,977
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,936M
€1,691M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,400
100,400
Self-employed persons
11,400
15,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
7,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
76.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
15.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
112,900
122,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,991
19,634
Enterprise births
1,798
2,527
Enterprise deaths
1,390
2,054
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
5.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
4.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
7.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.8%
47.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.0%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.6%
18.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
33.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.6%
14.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
95.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,672
623,798
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,922 kt
7,004 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
499
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
14 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
538
187
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
53
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
157,814
Population aged 65+
63,919
63,882
Population aged under 15
43,250
45,470
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
40.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.4 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
2,161
2,222
Deaths
2,837
2,967
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.8%
69.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.70
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
72 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
196,030
266,689
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.9%
23.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.8 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.9%
18.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
564 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
930 /100k
780 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.4 /100k
22.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
417 /100k
507 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
1,098 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
60 /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
73 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
37 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
23 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
4 days/yr