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 · SE321
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardennes (Opportunity 54). Runner-up: Västernorrlands län (43). Contrarian pick: Västernorrlands län — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 97).
Strengths
Labour market (97) · Energy cost (97)
Red flags
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ardennes
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 8) — Västernorrlands län may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ardennes leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
42.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.3
48.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.4
56.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
85.3
49.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
50.0
7.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
44.0
75.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.0
41.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.8% 5y
4.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,325
€50,244
Population density
50 /km²
10 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,189
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
185
FR-only
All indicators · 90 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,582M
€10,865M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€414M
€425M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,951M
€2,804M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,224M
€1,934M
GVA — construction (F)
€383M
€757M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,403M
€2,204M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,400
€22,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,400 PPS
42,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
€49,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,131M
€4,434M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,531M
€686M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,820M
€7,806M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€958M
€736M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€570M
€474M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,437M
€1,865M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,994M
€2,811M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,452M
€11,185M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,767
€105,770
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,936M
€3,350M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,400
122,020
Self-employed persons
11,400
7,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
14,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
84.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
19.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
112,900
129,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,991
16,894
Enterprise births
1,798
1,257
Enterprise deaths
1,390
1,210
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.8%
41.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.0%
39.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.6%
34.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
29.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.6%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
98.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,672
1,427,320
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
555 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,922 kt
12,337 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
16
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
538
7
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
154
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
155,823
142,373
Population aged 65+
63,919
61,269
Population aged under 15
43,250
37,816
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
45.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
43.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.4 /1k
-2.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
1.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
11.9 /1k
Live births
2,161
1,786
Deaths
2,837
2,867
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.8%
69.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
11 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
196,030
262,690
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.9%
19.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.8 yrs
82.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.9%
16.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
558 /100k
205 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
930 /100k
950 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
—
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.4 /100k
19.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
417 /100k
391 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
1,496 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
29 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.91
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.62
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.74
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
2.03
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.94
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.085/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.073/kWh
Housing market
Average sold price, tenant-owned flats (SEK thousands, Statistics Sweden)
—
945 kSEK
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
192 m
109 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
174 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr