NUTS-3 FRK23 · France
Population
527,1562025
GDP
€21,343M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.1%2025
Active firms
136,6912026
Cadastral parcels
968,2482026
Area
6,560.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRK23 · FRG04
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Drôme (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Sarthe (54). Contrarian pick: Sarthe — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 81).
#2Sarthe
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Air quality (81)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 19 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Drôme
Its weakest dimension is Connectivity (EU pctl 37) — Sarthe may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Drôme 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
58.9
54.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
72.0
66.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
57.6
53.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.0
81.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
37.0
33.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
89.8
72.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.8
33.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
1.7% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
0.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€40,487
€31,627
Population density
80 /km²
90 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
1,837
1,394
Firms per 1k pop
259
174
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€19,072M
€15,970M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€388M
€459M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,444M
€2,978M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,107M
€2,757M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,244M
€991M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,701M
€2,855M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,600
€23,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,400 PPS
29,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€40,600
€31,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€66,409M
€32,580M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€8,444M
€4,197M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€150,675M
€79,082M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,979M
€2,384M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€331M
€200M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,297M
€4,424M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,998M
€4,265M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€19,077M
€16,060M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,747
€78,826
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,815M
€4,006M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
239,700
231,200
Self-employed persons
31,400
22,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,700
35,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
77.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.9%
16.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
6.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
241,700
258,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
45,114
28,733
Enterprise births
5,525
3,921
Enterprise deaths
4,582
2,972
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.4%
6.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.0%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.6%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.2%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
49.4%
42.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
60.1%
54.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
17.4%
16.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
34.0%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.9%
8.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.6%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,336,760
1,423,700
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
—
611 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,287
2,142
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,514 kt
16,189 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
29 km/1000km²
23 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
434
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
110
175
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)
311,189
334,744
Population aged 65+
127,673
135,972
Population aged under 15
88,294
94,687
Median age of population
45.1 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
40.6%
Crude rate of total population change
2.7 /1k
-1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.6 /1k
0.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
4,722
5,088
Deaths
5,154
6,021
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
69.4%
68.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.70
Population density (persons per km²)
81 /km²
91 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
546,891
488,143
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.0%
15.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.2 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.0%
11.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
511 /100k
450 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
771 /100k
799 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
204 /100k
223 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
52.9 /100k
57.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
498 /100k
485 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,911 /100k
1,302 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
47 /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)
545 m
108 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
20 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
60 days/yr
27 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
3 days/yr