NUTS-3 FRJ22 · France
Population
278,6912025
GDP
€8,691M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.3%2025
Active firms
76,8322026
Cadastral parcels
1,289,5842026
Area
8,773.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRJ22 · FRD13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Orne (Opportunity 44). Runner-up: Aveyron (43). Contrarian pick: Aveyron — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 92).
#1Orne
Strengths
Air quality (90) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Orne
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 8) — Aveyron may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Aveyron · Manufacturing → Orne · Office → Aveyron · Residential → Aveyron.
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
43.0
43.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.8
64.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.2
48.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
82.7
90.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
26.0
32.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
91.8
61.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
30.6
22.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.3% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
1.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,187
€29,448
Population density
32 /km²
44 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
4,627
2,066
Firms per 1k pop
276
210
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,755M
€7,163M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€332M
€368M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,253M
€1,479M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€989M
€1,359M
GVA — construction (F)
€638M
€500M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,401M
€1,007M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€23,600
€23,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,600 PPS
27,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,000
€29,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,134M
€11,208M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,274M
€1,469M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€63,709M
€26,527M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,414M
€1,111M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€129M
€47M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,085M
€1,664M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,046M
€2,146M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,843M
€7,133M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€76,955
€75,411
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,938M
€1,788M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
115,100
108,500
Self-employed persons
22,000
14,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
13,700
17,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.9%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.9%
15.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.5%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
123,100
117,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
22,499
15,303
Enterprise births
2,547
1,734
Enterprise deaths
2,143
1,458
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.4%
5.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.1%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.1%
2.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.7%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
47.9%
39.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
56.4%
50.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.2%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
33.7%
26.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
14.7%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
90.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,247,181
578,069
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,130 kt
10,118 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,003
913
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
14 km/1000km²
16 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
360
335
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
120
171
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)
158,513
153,919
Population aged 65+
80,383
77,450
Population aged under 15
39,795
41,258
Median age of population
50.2 yrs
49.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.7%
50.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.8 /1k
-4.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.8 /1k
0.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
13.3 /1k
Live births
1,869
2,150
Deaths
3,699
3,642
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
75.8%
77.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.73
Population density (persons per km²)
32 /km²
45 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
242,868
216,542
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.3%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.7 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.9%
12.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
564 /100k
557 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
780 /100k
894 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
14.0 /100k
29.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
284 /100k
500 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
766 /100k
1,070 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /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)
604 m
266 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
13 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
42 days/yr
30 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
3 days/yr