NUTS-3 NL128 · Netherlands
Population
142,7692025
GDP
€6,013M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,454 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL128 · FRM02
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuidwest-Friesland (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Haute-Corse (35). Contrarian pick: Haute-Corse — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (91) · Energy cost (88)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zuidwest-Friesland
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 49) — Haute-Corse may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuidwest-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
59.2
34.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
55.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.1
40.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
86.0
76.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
54.7
34.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
79.3
26.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.6
52.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
3.3% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
2.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,115
€33,415
Population density
98 /km²
40 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
3,542
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
312
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,396M
€5,638M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€246M
€94M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,239M
€504M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€984M
€191M
GVA — construction (F)
€292M
€495M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€999M
€1,205M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€24,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,300 PPS
30,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,300
€33,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,262M
€2,838M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€616M
€78M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,205M
€6,494M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€475M
€993M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€47M
€71M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,043M
€1,527M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,134M
€1,812M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€5,668M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€87,281
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€1,367M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
69,500
73,900
Self-employed persons
17,000
12,000
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,400
3,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.6%
68.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
46.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
—
7.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
81,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,417
19,744
Enterprise births
1,226
2,319
Enterprise deaths
742
1,935
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.5%
5.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
0.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.6%
4.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.6%
31.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.1%
28.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.1%
5.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
25.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
6.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.6%
83.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,039,120
5,149,421
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
615 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,446 kt
3,034 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
659
260
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
63 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
462
137
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
71
37
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)
85,773
114,688
Population aged 65+
35,764
49,059
Population aged under 15
21,232
25,652
Median age of population
47.7 yrs
47.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.7%
42.8%
Crude rate of total population change
2.9 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.2 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
10.1 /1k
Live births
1,202
1,325
Deaths
1,524
1,907
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
66.4%
65.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.72
1.24
Population density (persons per km²)
162 /km²
41 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
210,202
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.9%
28.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
84.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
23.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
552 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,018 /100k
797 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
239 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
5.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
—
21.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
91.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
—
899 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
53 /M
113 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.46
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.27
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.02
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
—
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
1,582 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
108 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
15 days/yr