NUTS-3 FRI31 · France
Population
352,6772025
GDP
€12,930M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.2%2025
Active firms
77,6602026
Cadastral parcels
1,210,1862026
Area
5,984.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRI31 · FRK22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ardèche (Opportunity 53). Runner-up: Charente (48). Contrarian pick: Charente — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 81).
Why you might not pick Ardèche
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 16) — Charente may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Charente · Manufacturing → Charente · Office → Ardèche · Residential → Ardèche.
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
47.8
53.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.8
66.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
49.3
62.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
58.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
37.7
48.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
67.8
89.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.8
51.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.7% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,661
€28,735
Population density
59 /km²
61 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
3,431
3,848
Firms per 1k pop
220
236
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€11,551M
€8,633M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€651M
€230M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,766M
€2,131M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,571M
€1,367M
GVA — construction (F)
€647M
€585M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,121M
€1,168M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,200
€24,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,900 PPS
26,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,900
€28,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,628M
€66,409M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,666M
€8,444M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€31,119M
€150,675M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,716M
€1,563M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€188M
€62M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,592M
€2,221M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,774M
€2,298M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,508M
€8,650M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,618
€85,164
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,983M
€2,183M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,700
115,800
Self-employed persons
19,200
20,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,400
17,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.1%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.4%
16.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.4%
7.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
150,600
150,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
23,957
26,504
Enterprise births
2,979
3,219
Enterprise deaths
2,390
2,688
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.8%
3.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.2%
5.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.6%
49.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.7%
60.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.8%
17.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
34.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.3%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
689,529
5,739,813
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
15,919 kt
4,776 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,242
3,890
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
12 km/1000km²
29 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
636
1,155
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
114
115
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)
204,245
193,229
Population aged 65+
97,811
91,372
Population aged under 15
50,621
52,158
Median age of population
48.9 yrs
48.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
47.9%
47.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.1 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.6 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
2,662
2,466
Deaths
4,324
4,045
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
72.7%
74.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.57
Population density (persons per km²)
59 /km²
61 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
296,847
296,936
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.6%
18.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.5 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.3%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
493 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
848 /100k
771 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
226 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.8 /100k
19.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
456 /100k
306 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,422 /100k
1,054 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
68 /M
47 /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)
69 m
850 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
20 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
15 days/yr