NUTS-3 NL423 · Netherlands
Population
600,1492025
GDP
€29,224M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
662.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NL423 · ITC16
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zuid-Limburg (Opportunity 73). Runner-up: Cuneo (58). Contrarian pick: Cuneo — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 83).
#2Cuneo
Strengths
Industrial base (83) · Economic base (77)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Zuid-Limburg
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 27) — Cuneo may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zuid-Limburg 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
73.4
58.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
48.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.5
47.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
65.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
78.0
33.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
78.3
18.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
51.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
3.1% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.0% 5y
4.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,695
€40,411
Population density
906 /km²
84 /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)
€26,227M
€21,111M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€137M
€885M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,961M
€6,268M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,187M
€5,811M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,011M
€1,445M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,754M
€3,773M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,400
€24,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
42,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,700
€40,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,196M
€44,851M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,560M
€10,323M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€26,730M
€61,911M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,032M
€2,619M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€846M
€298M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,823M
€5,732M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,948M
€3,010M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,214M
€21,532M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,491
€83,787
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,137M
€6,730M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
316,700
284,900
Self-employed persons
50,000
75,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,800
63,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.1%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
19.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
6.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
323,100
272,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
58,654
47,245
Enterprise births
4,953
2,853
Enterprise deaths
3,064
2,567
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
—
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.8%
3.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
—
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.3%
21.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.8%
29.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
22.9%
10.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.3%
16.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,746,388
2,325,452
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
545 /1k
723 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,431 kt
23,612 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,955
489
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
326
84
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
98 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
83
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
369,339
362,111
Population aged 65+
158,360
147,724
Population aged under 15
72,450
71,691
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
49.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
40.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.2 /1k
-0.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
11.8 /1k
Live births
4,289
3,832
Deaths
7,607
6,850
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.5%
60.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
1.27
Population density (persons per km²)
922 /km²
85 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
576,883
562,913
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.2%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.6 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
353 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,066 /100k
892 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
249 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
—
0.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.3 /100k
14.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,385 /100k
549 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
33 /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)
87 m
465 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
20 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
74 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
14 days/yr