NUTS-3 FRL04 · France
Population
2,108,9632025
GDP
€96,176M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.4%2025
Active firms
579,3362026
Cadastral parcels
958,0262026
Area
5,270.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
FRL04 · FRI12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Bouches-du-Rhône (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Gironde (63). Contrarian pick: Gironde — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 97).
Strengths
Energy cost (88) · Economic base (79)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Bouches-du-Rhône
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 14) — Gironde may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Bouches-du-Rhône 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
64.7
62.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
40.0
69.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.8
57.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
28.0
52.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
63.0
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
75.8
74.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.8
56.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.2% 5y
2.9% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.8% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,603
€42,458
Population density
400 /km²
171 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
454
1,155
Firms per 1k pop
275
270
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€85,779M
€65,236M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€361M
€862M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€10,635M
€7,751M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€7,031M
€5,664M
GVA — construction (F)
€4,733M
€3,990M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€18,551M
€14,197M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,900
€24,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,500 PPS
39,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,200
€42,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,335M
€30,151M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,075M
€2,628M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€105,791M
€68,404M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€11,026M
€9,368M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€5,060M
€3,728M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€26,702M
€21,049M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€24,797M
€17,388M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€85,906M
€65,515M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€97,598
€90,805
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€22,125M
€16,491M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
1,004,300
819,900
Self-employed persons
113,700
104,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
65,800
55,600
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.4%
79.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
22.6%
18.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
7.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
953,500
869,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
195,430
159,095
Enterprise births
28,104
22,987
Enterprise deaths
22,477
18,591
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.8%
6.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.1%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
4.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
1.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.5%
44.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
52.3%
53.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.2%
18.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.8%
27.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
8.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.1%
96.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
12,127,565
13,070,458
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
8,948
9,445
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
44,981 kt
34,047 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
24 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
424
549
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
11
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)
1,299,752
1,092,091
Population aged 65+
468,755
359,182
Population aged under 15
340,456
269,289
Median age of population
42.9 yrs
42.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.1%
32.9%
Crude rate of total population change
5.0 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.2 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.7 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
9.0 /1k
8.7 /1k
Live births
22,488
15,392
Deaths
18,836
14,868
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.3%
57.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
443 /km²
173 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
2,182,517
2,185,090
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.7%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.8 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.1%
15.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
625 /100k
545 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
851 /100k
807 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
202 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.8 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
179 /100k
92.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
646 /100k
573 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
3,227 /100k
2,502 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
56 /M
57 /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)
53 m
6 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
25 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
14 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
6 days/yr