NUTS-3 FRJ11 · France
Population
381,3362025
GDP
€10,350M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
72.1%2025
Active firms
112,0342026
Cadastral parcels
1,005,7062026
Area
6,352.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ11 · FRI31
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Charente (Opportunity 48). Runner-up: Aude (45). Contrarian pick: Aude — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 62).
Why you might not pick Charente
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 23) — Aude may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Charente 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
45.2
47.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.5
69.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.7
49.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
58.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
30.0
37.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
67.0
67.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
42.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.4% 5y
5.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€27,142
€36,661
Population density
60 /km²
59 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
2,637
3,431
Firms per 1k pop
294
220
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,226M
€11,551M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€246M
€651M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€728M
€2,766M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€548M
€2,571M
GVA — construction (F)
€548M
€647M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,001M
€2,121M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,300
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,100 PPS
33,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€27,300
€36,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€22,266M
€14,628M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,184M
€1,666M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€47,206M
€31,119M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,902M
€1,716M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€78M
€188M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,708M
€2,592M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,996M
€2,774M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,247M
€11,508M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€76,774
€88,618
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,388M
€2,983M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
137,400
148,700
Self-employed persons
23,200
19,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,600
21,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.3%
74.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
25.5%
19.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.9%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
156,700
150,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
30,162
23,957
Enterprise births
3,849
2,979
Enterprise deaths
3,162
2,390
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.3%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
1.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.6%
40.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.5%
46.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.5%
13.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
8.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.0%
95.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,778,059
689,529
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,697 kt
15,919 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,270
2,242
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
22 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
333
636
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
114
114
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)
216,837
204,245
Population aged 65+
108,827
97,811
Population aged under 15
55,672
50,621
Median age of population
49.8 yrs
48.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.2%
47.9%
Crude rate of total population change
1.8 /1k
-0.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.3 /1k
4.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
12.9 /1k
12.3 /1k
Live births
2,794
2,662
Deaths
4,910
4,324
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
75.9%
72.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.55
Population density (persons per km²)
61 /km²
59 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
363,664
296,847
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
25.3%
17.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
20.5%
13.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
617 /100k
493 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
848 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
226 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
44.9 /100k
40.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
561 /100k
456 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,859 /100k
1,422 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
66 /M
68 /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)
437 m
69 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
20 days/yr
20 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
15 days/yr
22 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
6 days/yr