NUTS-3 NL225 · Netherlands
Population
407,9572025
GDP
€18,324M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,564.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL225 · ITC48
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Achterhoek (Opportunity 76). Runner-up: Pavia (61). Contrarian pick: Pavia — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 70).
Strengths
Digital readiness (94) · Labour market (92)
Red flags
Flood: 21% of population in the 100-year floodplain
#2Pavia
Strengths
Demographic outlook (70) · Industrial base (59)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 40 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Achterhoek
Flood: 21% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 37) — Pavia may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Achterhoek 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
76.4
60.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
74.5
46.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.2
46.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
68.5
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
61.0
49.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
89.8
29.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.4
44.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
3.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
11.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€44,917
€30,226
Population density
261 /km²
182 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€16,445M
€14,716M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€576M
€315M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,581M
€3,280M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,395M
€2,836M
GVA — construction (F)
€971M
€959M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,489M
€2,858M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,500
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
38,600 PPS
31,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,000
€30,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€23,257M
€101,220M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,035M
€19,922M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€50,437M
€188,904M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,445M
€2,116M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€179M
€223M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,144M
€4,515M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,584M
€2,789M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,159M
€14,916M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,812
€84,712
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,054M
€3,432M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
211,000
199,200
Self-employed persons
39,900
50,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
28,500
32,600
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.2%
71.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.6%
10.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
222,500
251,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
44,580
37,947
Enterprise births
3,295
2,903
Enterprise deaths
1,984
2,313
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
5.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
44.1%
23.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.8%
34.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
25.7%
11.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
30.0%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.8%
5.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.2%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,158,141
643,092
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
523 /1k
640 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,640 kt
16,525 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,033
50
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
253
9
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
81 km/1000km²
32 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
53
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
246,554
342,342
Population aged 65+
106,383
137,577
Population aged under 15
55,020
62,030
Median age of population
49.3 yrs
49.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.1%
40.2%
Crude rate of total population change
2.9 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.6 /1k
13.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude death rate
11.6 /1k
13.2 /1k
Live births
3,219
3,282
Deaths
4,725
7,141
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.5%
58.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.59
1.19
Population density (persons per km²)
262 /km²
185 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
354,761
480,613
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.0%
12.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.9 yrs
84.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.1%
9.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
322 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,014 /100k
835 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
222 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.8 /100k
33.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
122 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
703 /100k
1,472 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
38 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
17 m
75 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
55 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
41 days/yr
35 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
10 days/yr