NUTS-3 NL342 · Netherlands
Population
286,8442025
GDP
€14,745M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,172 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL342 · NL421
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Noord-Limburg (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Overig Zeeland (74). Contrarian pick: Overig Zeeland — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 96).
Why you might not pick Noord-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 36) — Overig Zeeland may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Noord-Limburg · Manufacturing → Noord-Limburg · Office → Noord-Limburg · Residential → Overig Zeeland.
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
74.0
76.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
74.3
74.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.9
59.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
51.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
52.7
76.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.8
78.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
71.2
72.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.4% 5y
2.7% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.2% 5y
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,405
€56,883
Population density
245 /km²
339 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,233M
€14,875M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€591M
€982M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,399M
€2,745M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,597M
€2,540M
GVA — construction (F)
€744M
€513M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,782M
€4,050M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,700
€25,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,200 PPS
48,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,600
€57,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€6,161M
€11,196M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€771M
€1,560M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€8,187M
€26,730M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,052M
€1,017M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€180M
€160M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,554M
€2,976M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,693M
€2,724M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,620M
€13,733M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,043
€99,382
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,814M
€3,481M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,200
174,400
Self-employed persons
30,000
25,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,600
19,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
85.7%
83.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.9%
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.1%
3.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
153,900
158,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
32,332
29,303
Enterprise births
2,700
2,429
Enterprise deaths
1,472
1,396
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.5%
6.6%
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.9%
3.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.1%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.7%
48.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.2%
22.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.2%
26.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
10.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
98.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
9,441,570
5,225,252
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
554 /1k
545 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,575 kt
15,089 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
657
757
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
229
260
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
49 km/1000km²
98 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
67
14
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)
173,157
181,169
Population aged 65+
70,146
71,285
Population aged under 15
43,541
38,933
Median age of population
46.1 yrs
47.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.5%
39.3%
Crude rate of total population change
2.9 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.2 /1k
5.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.8 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
2,515
2,381
Deaths
3,182
3,052
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.7%
60.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.62
1.46
Population density (persons per km²)
270 /km²
347 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
278,874
265,754
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
13.8%
17.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
81.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.5%
14.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
998 /100k
1,066 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
247 /100k
249 /100k
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
19.9 /100k
21.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
136 /100k
223 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,064 /100k
1,240 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
48 /M
33 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
1.77
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
1.72
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
1.73
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
1.92
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
0.63
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
€0.142/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
6 m
25 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
18 days/yr
37 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr