NUTS-3 FRF32 · France
Population
178,2052025
GDP
€4,780M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.1%2025
Active firms
34,0072026
Cadastral parcels
539,6272026
Area
6,236.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRF32 · DE405
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Barnim (Opportunity 47). Runner-up: Meuse (38). Contrarian pick: Meuse — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
#1Barnim
Strengths
Demographic outlook (99) · Labour market (70)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
#2Meuse
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Freight intensity (73)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Barnim
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 9) — Meuse may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Barnim · Manufacturing → Meuse · Office → Barnim · Residential → Barnim.
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
38.1
47.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.3
61.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.5
44.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
64.0
30.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.7
59.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
54.3
27.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.8
54.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.2% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€26,823
€26,909
Population density
29 /km²
131 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,028
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
191
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,264M
€4,772M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€252M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€844M
€583M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€766M
€287M
GVA — construction (F)
€298M
€386M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€548M
€997M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,600
€26,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,600 PPS
24,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€26,700
€27,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,068M
€23,042M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,764M
€2,607M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€37,107M
€47,281M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€685M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€18M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,026M
€1,052M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,296M
€1,693M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,238M
€4,190M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€76,959
€78,210
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,071M
€1,279M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
63,300
70,520
Self-employed persons
7,800
8,230
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,500
5,240
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.3%
80.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.8%
7.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.8%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,900
97,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
8,969
6,804
Enterprise births
1,122
527
Enterprise deaths
906
655
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.2%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.1%
4.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
35.9%
32.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.6%
31.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.9%
6.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.9%
21.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.7%
7.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
334,198
687,486
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
584 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,344
1,097
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,108 kt
7,030 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
20 km/1000km²
28 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
754
565
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
89
50
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)
104,578
117,499
Population aged 65+
45,997
50,042
Population aged under 15
27,630
26,628
Median age of population
47.0 yrs
49.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.0%
42.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-6.0 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.2 /1k
14.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.1 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
1,297
1,151
Deaths
2,164
2,487
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
70.4%
65.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.52
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
29 /km²
135 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
134,226
252,592
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.8%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
81.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.8%
14.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
566 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
946 /100k
1,113 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
1.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.8 /100k
40.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
410 /100k
314 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,219 /100k
1,114 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
51 /M
45 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
208 m
32 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
61 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
1 days/yr