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 · ITC12
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Vercelli (48). Contrarian pick: Vercelli — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 87).
#2Vercelli
Strengths
Industrial base (87) · Freight intensity (80)
Red flags
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 21 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Zeeuwsch-Vlaanderen
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 34) — Vercelli 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
47.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.5
40.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.7
43.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
40.3
9.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
57.3
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.8
18.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.4
38.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
2.0% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.2% 5y
5.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€55,417
€33,936
Population density
143 /km²
80 /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
€5,058M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€300M
€121M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,597M
€1,642M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,492M
€1,484M
GVA — construction (F)
€317M
€314M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,092M
€849M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,700
€24,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
47,600 PPS
35,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€55,500
€34,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,161M
€44,851M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€771M
€10,323M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€8,187M
€61,911M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€387M
€634M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€43M
€61M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€781M
€1,238M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€831M
€894M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,635M
€5,159M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€114,526
€83,987
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,920M
€1,612M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
53,700
68,100
Self-employed persons
10,200
15,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,000
15,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.7%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.9%
19.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.1%
6.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
56,100
76,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,017
11,364
Enterprise births
813
749
Enterprise deaths
538
670
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
3.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.9%
3.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.1%
21.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.7%
29.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.2%
10.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.2%
16.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,783,862
401,644
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
554 /1k
723 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,798 kt
7,332 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
318
678
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
300
409
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
49 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
64
31
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
63,191
101,241
Population aged 65+
28,955
46,898
Population aged under 15
13,979
17,771
Median age of population
50.1 yrs
51.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
45.8%
46.3%
Crude rate of total population change
4.8 /1k
1.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.6 /1k
9.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
5.4 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
13.9 /1k
Live births
819
902
Deaths
1,321
2,301
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.9%
63.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.13
Population density (persons per km²)
143 /km²
80 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
101,094
113,112
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
13.8%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.5%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
353 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
998 /100k
892 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
247 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
18.0 /100k
19.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
162 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
566 /100k
626 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
48 /M
40 /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)
1 m
258 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
19 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
25 days/yr
73 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
19 days/yr