NUTS-3 NL126 · Netherlands
Population
191,4802025
GDP
€9,740M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,002.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL126 · FRF21
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuidoost-Friesland (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Ardennes (54). Contrarian pick: Ardennes — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 88).
Why you might not pick Zuidoost-Friesland
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 46) — Ardennes may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuidoost-Friesland 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
63.9
53.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
68.3
49.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.3
45.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
85.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.3
50.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
44.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
62.2
50.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
9.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€50,867
€32,325
Population density
191 /km²
50 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
2,189
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
185
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,741M
€7,582M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€256M
€414M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,547M
€1,951M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,418M
€1,224M
GVA — construction (F)
€628M
€383M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,752M
€1,403M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€22,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,700 PPS
29,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,000
€31,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,262M
€11,131M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€616M
€1,531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,205M
€22,820M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€630M
€958M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€149M
€570M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,947M
€1,437M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,988M
€1,994M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,865M
€7,452M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,443
€93,767
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,211M
€1,936M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
105,600
92,400
Self-employed persons
18,700
11,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
11,100
14,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
18.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
7.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
104,000
112,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
20,392
13,991
Enterprise births
1,502
1,798
Enterprise deaths
946
1,390
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.6%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
33.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.1%
41.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.1%
13.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
6.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.6%
94.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
926,921
464,672
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
—
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
759
1,414
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,658 kt
9,922 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
63 km/1000km²
21 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
396
538
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
86
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
116,886
155,823
Population aged 65+
46,211
63,919
Population aged under 15
28,383
43,250
Median age of population
46.7 yrs
45.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.5%
41.0%
Crude rate of total population change
3.5 /1k
-5.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
-2.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.6 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
1,668
2,161
Deaths
2,224
2,837
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.8%
68.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
191 /km²
51 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
163,301
196,030
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.9%
22.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
558 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,018 /100k
930 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
239 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.7 /100k
37.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
124 /100k
417 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
655 /100k
1,250 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
53 /M
80 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.02
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.107/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.053/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
2 m
192 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
46 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
5 days/yr