NUTS-3 FRK21 · France
Population
692,1662025
GDP
€21,528M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.1%2025
Active firms
133,2652026
Cadastral parcels
1,375,9972026
Area
5,783.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRK21 · FRC21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ain (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Doubs (53). Contrarian pick: Doubs — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 69).
#1Ain
Strengths
Talent & skills (90) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Doubs
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Demographic outlook (78)
Red flags
Growth momentum (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Ain
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 35) — Doubs may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ain 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
63.8
52.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
73.8
57.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.1
54.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
68.7
69.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
59.7
42.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
89.8
61.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.0
13.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
7.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,102
€34,114
Population density
120 /km²
104 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,988
1,396
Firms per 1k pop
193
202
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€19,246M
€16,656M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€277M
€287M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,922M
€3,300M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,635M
€2,995M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,326M
€921M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,288M
€2,525M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,600
€22,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,100 PPS
31,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,600
€33,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€66,409M
€8,575M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€8,444M
€1,453M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€150,675M
€19,541M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€3,671M
€2,831M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€181M
€221M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,616M
€4,668M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,817M
€4,955M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€19,242M
€16,623M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€92,456
€85,701
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,857M
€4,305M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
237,300
221,800
Self-employed persons
29,900
23,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
39,200
35,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.9%
19.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
331,500
246,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
45,285
32,760
Enterprise births
6,149
4,300
Enterprise deaths
4,795
3,341
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.3%
6.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.0%
2.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.6%
5.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.2%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
49.4%
37.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
60.1%
44.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.4%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
34.0%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
7.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
95.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,369,876
1,678,794
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,993 kt
12,572 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,108
2,076
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
13 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
449
380
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
39
92
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
426,826
337,208
Population aged 65+
134,758
117,003
Population aged under 15
130,582
92,516
Median age of population
41.6 yrs
41.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.6%
34.7%
Crude rate of total population change
9.1 /1k
-0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
-0.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
7.8 /1k
9.4 /1k
Live births
6,214
4,976
Deaths
5,405
5,142
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.2%
62.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.54
Population density (persons per km²)
123 /km²
104 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
708,642
556,630
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.0%
19.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.2 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.0%
15.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
511 /100k
506 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
771 /100k
853 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
204 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
24.9 /100k
9.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
572 /100k
67.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,245 /100k
280 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
64 /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)
273 m
692 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
45 days/yr
72 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
16 days/yr