NUTS-3 FRJ15 · France
Population
505,2992025
GDP
€15,211M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
72.1%2025
Active firms
141,0342026
Cadastral parcels
718,2392026
Area
4,130.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ15 · FRD12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pyrénées-Orientales (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Manche (49). Contrarian pick: Manche — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 71).
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Talent & skills (67)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Pyrénées-Orientales
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 6) — Manche may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Pyrénées-Orientales · Manufacturing → Manche · Office → Pyrénées-Orientales · Residential → Pyrénées-Orientales.
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
52.4
49.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.0
61.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.6
45.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
32.0
71.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.7
20.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
67.0
61.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.0
46.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.7% 5y
1.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€30,102
€34,429
Population density
122 /km²
83 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,421
2,085
Firms per 1k pop
279
202
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,562M
€15,301M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€123M
€615M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€911M
€3,963M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€696M
€2,841M
GVA — construction (F)
€790M
€1,122M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,746M
€2,233M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,300
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,100 PPS
31,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€30,500
€34,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€22,266M
€11,208M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,184M
€1,469M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€47,206M
€26,527M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,456M
€2,054M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€118M
€158M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,825M
€3,490M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,167M
€3,878M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,590M
€15,230M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,665
€83,755
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,509M
€3,818M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
183,100
208,600
Self-employed persons
29,400
25,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,100
34,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.3%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
25.5%
15.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.9%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
207,400
218,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
42,851
28,386
Enterprise births
5,704
3,254
Enterprise deaths
4,756
2,627
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
5.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.3%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
2.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.6%
39.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.5%
50.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.5%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.5%
26.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
93.0%
90.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
11,415,243
3,213,459
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,594 kt
10,071 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,656
1,061
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
22 km/1000km²
16 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
328
213
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
83
241
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
286,948
285,826
Population aged 65+
142,247
136,561
Population aged under 15
76,104
75,541
Median age of population
48.8 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
49.6%
47.8%
Crude rate of total population change
8.4 /1k
0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.5 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.2 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
4,045
3,948
Deaths
6,130
6,152
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
76.1%
74.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.64
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
123 /km²
83 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
502,333
411,661
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
25.3%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
20.5%
12.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
617 /100k
557 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
853 /100k
894 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
82.8 /100k
20.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
500 /100k
269 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,079 /100k
931 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
66 /M
63 /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)
289 m
67 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
12 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
4 days/yr