NUTS-3 NL341 · Netherlands
Population
106,1252025
GDP
€5,881M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
741.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL341 · ES414
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Palencia (37). Contrarian pick: Palencia — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 95).
#2Palencia
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Freight intensity (92)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 34) — Palencia may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen 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
63.5
37.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.5
35.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.7
54.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
40.3
76.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
57.3
11.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.8
60.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.4
47.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.2% 5y
5.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€55,417
€31,805
Population density
143 /km²
20 /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)
€5,278M
€4,606M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€300M
€219M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,597M
€1,462M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,492M
€1,122M
GVA — construction (F)
€317M
€242M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,092M
€876M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,700
€18,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
47,600 PPS
35,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€55,500
€32,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,161M
€13,527M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€771M
€2,707M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€8,187M
€32,274M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€387M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€43M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€781M
€836M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€831M
€972M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,635M
€4,633M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€114,526
€78,799
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,920M
€1,108M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
53,700
68,900
Self-employed persons
10,200
11,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,000
13,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.7%
75.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.9%
24.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.1%
8.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
56,100
74,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,017
9,341
Enterprise births
813
568
Enterprise deaths
538
583
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.9%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.1%
42.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.7%
52.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.2%
15.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.2%
22.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
7.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,783,862
758,457
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
554 /1k
601 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,798 kt
8,872 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
318
17
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
49 km/1000km²
26 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
300
11
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
64
171
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
63,191
96,993
Population aged 65+
28,955
44,739
Population aged under 15
13,979
16,970
Median age of population
50.1 yrs
51.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
45.8%
46.1%
Crude rate of total population change
4.8 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.6 /1k
12.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
5.2 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
13.2 /1k
Live births
819
824
Deaths
1,321
2,085
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.9%
63.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.08
Population density (persons per km²)
143 /km²
20 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
101,094
87,585
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
13.8%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
84.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.5%
19.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
343 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
998 /100k
749 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
247 /100k
212 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
18.0 /100k
20.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
162 /100k
172 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
566 /100k
101 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
48 /M
68 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.14
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
0.84
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
0.96
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
0.78
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.16
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.106/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1 m
874 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
29 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
25 days/yr
52 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr