NUTS-3 NO081 · Norway
Population
724,2902025
GDP
€70,970M2021
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
456.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
NO081 · BE100
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Oslo (56). Contrarian pick: Oslo — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Talent & skills (94)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 1) — Oslo may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Oslo · Manufacturing → Oslo · Office → Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad · Residential → Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad.
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
56.3
72.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.5
52.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
66.4
47.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
28.7
44.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.0
72.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
95.3
94.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
29.6
48.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.4% 5y
0.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€97,985
€85,045
Population density
1,588 /km²
7,940 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€63,921M
€97,893M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
—
€24M
GVA — industry (B–E)
—
€4,645M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,571M
€1,922M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,526M
€2,170M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€15,724M
€21,683M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,600
€25,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
73,400 PPS
76,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€101,700
€85,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,753M
€21,248M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€831M
€475M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€65,746M
€55,797M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€6,676M
€8,004M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€7,027M
€6,538M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€24,581M
€40,663M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€17,127M
€28,707M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€82,689M
€92,575M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€148,334
€152,854
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€18,446M
€22,391M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
496,000
729,700
Self-employed persons
—
85,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,000
18,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
67.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.6%
30.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.9%
12.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
437,700
587,800
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.9%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.8%
8.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.3%
3.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.5%
56.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
63.5%
63.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
21.7%
23.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
37.5%
41.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.8%
12.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
92.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
6,929,404
7,372,971
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
494 /1k
389 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
24,541 kt
6,822 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,872
627
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
259
49
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
12 km/1000km²
68 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
11
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
517,246
881,244
Population aged 65+
96,968
165,217
Population aged under 15
110,076
225,248
Median age of population
36.4 yrs
36.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
18.7%
18.7%
Crude rate of total population change
9.1 /1k
5.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.0 /1k
1.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
12.6 /1k
11.1 /1k
Crude death rate
5.5 /1k
6.7 /1k
Live births
9,117
14,034
Deaths
3,944
8,526
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
40.0%
44.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.36
Population density (persons per km²)
—
7,827 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
1,568,829
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.3%
33.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
10.8%
23.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
324 /100k
678 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
823 /100k
914 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
214 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
74.0 /100k
443 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
619 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
4,135 /100k
4,651 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
15 /M
9 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.57
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.94
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.92
0.25
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.064/kWh
€0.130/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
—
€0.046/kWh
Housing market
Dwelling price per m² (NOK, all types, Statistics Norway)
98,381 NOK/m²
—
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
176 m
81 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
137 days/yr
35 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
9 days/yr
2 days/yr