NUTS-3 FRJ13 · France
Population
1,253,0882025
GDP
€46,218M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
72.1%2025
Active firms
378,7142026
Cadastral parcels
1,330,8582026
Area
6,236 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ13 · FRE12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pas-de-Calais (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Hérault (58). Contrarian pick: Hérault — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 94).
#2Hérault
Strengths
Demographic outlook (94) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Pas-de-Calais
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 15) — Hérault may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Pas-de-Calais · Manufacturing → Pas-de-Calais · Office → Hérault · Residential → Hérault.
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
58.2
61.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.5
56.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.9
43.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
22.7
59.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.7
61.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
67.0
73.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
58.8
42.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
1.9% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.7% 5y
0.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,884
€29,441
Population density
201 /km²
216 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,062
1,028
Firms per 1k pop
302
153
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€41,226M
€38,131M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€265M
€887M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,101M
€6,650M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,813M
€5,240M
GVA — construction (F)
€2,330M
€2,738M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€8,661M
€6,813M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,300
€21,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,100 PPS
27,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,100
€29,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€22,266M
€28,402M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,184M
€3,256M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€47,206M
€76,179M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€7,183M
€5,558M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2,206M
€406M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€13,859M
€9,479M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€12,011M
€11,565M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€41,293M
€38,279M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,185
€82,605
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€10,662M
€9,038M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
522,300
527,400
Self-employed persons
79,600
50,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,100
57,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.3%
73.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
25.5%
21.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.9%
9.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
555,800
647,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
121,001
70,001
Enterprise births
17,024
9,305
Enterprise deaths
13,794
7,413
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.7%
5.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.3%
0.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
2.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.6%
41.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.5%
53.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.5%
14.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
28.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
8.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.0%
92.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
16,493,857
4,185,081
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
15,249 kt
42,538 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
4,923
9,207
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
22 km/1000km²
50 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
393
634
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
62
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
768,990
886,378
Population aged 65+
292,981
309,532
Population aged under 15
191,117
256,066
Median age of population
43.4 yrs
42.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.1%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
8.9 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.8 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
9.6 /1k
Crude death rate
9.4 /1k
10.4 /1k
Live births
10,735
13,903
Deaths
11,783
15,055
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.0%
63.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
1.72
Population density (persons per km²)
206 /km²
218 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,584,288
1,312,662
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
25.3%
26.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
20.5%
21.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
617 /100k
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
1,007 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
260 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
105 /100k
44.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
542 /100k
342 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,497 /100k
1,292 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
66 /M
29 /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)
280 m
142 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
31 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
14 days/yr
34 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
3 days/yr