NUTS-3 FRG03 · France
Population
304,1812025
GDP
€11,550M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms
62,9972026
Cadastral parcels
613,9582026
Area
5,212.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRG03 · FRF22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Aube (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Mayenne (51). Contrarian pick: Mayenne — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 86).
#1Aube
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (85)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Aube
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 18) — Mayenne may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Aube · Manufacturing → Mayenne · Office → Mayenne · Residential → Aube.
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
51.0
54.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.5
56.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.6
43.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
76.3
85.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
36.0
38.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
72.3
44.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
43.4
59.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
9.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€37,970
€34,589
Population density
58 /km²
51 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,018
2,189
Firms per 1k pop
207
218
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€10,324M
€9,518M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€580M
€1,104M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,295M
€1,764M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,042M
€1,147M
GVA — construction (F)
€686M
€535M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,722M
€1,522M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,300
€22,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,800 PPS
31,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,800
€34,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€32,580M
€11,131M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,197M
€1,531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€79,082M
€22,820M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,204M
€1,297M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€192M
€87M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,762M
€2,201M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,279M
€2,392M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€10,373M
€9,361M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,702
€92,624
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,588M
€2,432M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
132,700
117,500
Self-employed persons
16,300
14,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
23,400
13,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.1%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.1%
18.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.7%
7.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
138,300
133,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,673
18,274
Enterprise births
2,040
2,407
Enterprise deaths
1,685
1,874
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.9%
6.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.3%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.2%
33.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
54.9%
41.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.8%
13.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.4%
6.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.3%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
459,585
1,117,470
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
611 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,924
1,373
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
15,345 kt
14,555 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
633
445
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
232
144
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
179,395
184,376
Population aged 65+
73,073
72,491
Population aged under 15
51,713
51,867
Median age of population
44.8 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.7%
39.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.0 /1k
-3.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.7 /1k
-0.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
10.6 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
2,841
2,594
Deaths
3,242
3,431
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
69.6%
67.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.85
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
59 /km²
52 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
265,955
307,871
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.7%
22.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.5%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
450 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
799 /100k
930 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
223 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.3 /100k
32.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
393 /100k
482 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
971 /100k
1,615 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
80 /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)
114 m
146 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
14 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
35 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr