NUTS-3 NL212 · Netherlands
Population
161,9272025
GDP
€8,055M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
423.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL212 · BE232
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuidwest-Overijssel (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Arr. Dendermonde (63). Contrarian pick: Arr. Dendermonde — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Digital readiness (98) · Labour market (92)
Red flags
Flood: 26% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Strengths
Talent & skills (91) · Resilience (77)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zuidwest-Overijssel
Flood: 26% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 42) — Arr. Dendermonde may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuidwest-Overijssel 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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
68.2
63.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
75.3
77.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
63.9
64.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
52.7
69.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
87.0
90.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.8
45.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.9% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
9.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,746
€36,927
Population density
382 /km²
592 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,229M
€6,974M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€174M
€60M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,220M
€1,378M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,187M
€1,253M
GVA — construction (F)
€417M
€682M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,495M
€1,260M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,600
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,900 PPS
33,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€50,000
€37,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,713M
€20,203M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,481M
€2,558M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€29,186M
€37,875M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€582M
€906M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€356M
€129M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,797M
€2,183M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,631M
€1,411M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,664M
€6,513M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€99,450
€118,780
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,736M
€2,096M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
84,700
66,900
Self-employed persons
14,500
16,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,200
10,600
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.6%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.4%
16.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
4.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
92,000
103,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,211
—
Enterprise births
1,611
—
Enterprise deaths
897
—
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.4%
—
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
2.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.9%
48.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.3%
56.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.4%
20.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.9%
35.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.3%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.7%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
454,599
83,945
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
529 /1k
475 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,091 kt
3,698 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
481
735
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
54 km/1000km²
66 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
297
352
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
83
37
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
103,187
131,245
Population aged 65+
34,612
45,252
Population aged under 15
24,128
32,155
Median age of population
44.0 yrs
44.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.5%
34.5%
Crude rate of total population change
8.2 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.8 /1k
5.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
10.0 /1k
10.2 /1k
Live births
1,509
1,815
Deaths
1,605
2,115
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.9%
59.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
384 /km²
614 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
141,259
184,994
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.8%
12.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.2%
6.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
566 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,030 /100k
867 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
258 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.6 /100k
35.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
137 /100k
265 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,136 /100k
842 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
38 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.046/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
4 m
3 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
31 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr