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NO084 · BE32B

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NUTS-3 NO084 · Norway
Population
740,6802025
GDP
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
Area
5,860.5 km²
NUTS-3 BE32B · Belgium
Population
403,3462025
GDP
€13,113M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
65.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
Area
475 km²

Decision brief

Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity

Best overall fit: Arr. Charleroi (Opportunity 60). Runner-up: Akershus (47). Contrarian pick: Akershus — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 100).

Strengths
Connectivity (84) · Energy cost (69)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Energy cost (100) · Talent & skills (95)
No red flags
Why you might not pick Arr. Charleroi
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 5) — Akershus may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Arr. Charleroi 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
46.7
60.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.7
39.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
34.0
66.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
63.7
84.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
95.3
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.3
45.4

Trajectories · 2012–latest

Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
Population
1.9% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y

Derived comparisons

GDP per capita
€32,510
Population density
126 /km²
849 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only

All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)

Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€11,869M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€47M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,794M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,208M
GVA — construction (F)
€691M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,506M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,600
€24,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,753M
€8,772M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€831M
€1,340M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€65,746M
€23,931M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,370M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€210M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,865M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,965M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,129M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,361
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,744M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
140,300
Self-employed persons
18,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
65.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.6%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
9.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
168,700
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.9%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.8%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.3%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.5%
37.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
63.5%
40.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
21.7%
10.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
37.5%
28.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.8%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.0%
94.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,714,168
345,574
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
494 /1k
498 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
5,630
2,295
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
28,710 kt
5,142 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
760
569
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
12 km/1000km²
75 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
21
3
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
482,159
255,855
Population aged 65+
127,719
77,848
Population aged under 15
130,802
69,643
Median age of population
41.0 yrs
40.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
26.5%
30.4%
Crude rate of total population change
16.2 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
13.1 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.7 /1k
9.9 /1k
Crude death rate
6.6 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
7,120
4,001
Deaths
4,883
4,321
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.6%
57.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.57
1.60
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.3%
24.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.4 yrs
80.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
10.8%
14.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
324 /100k
603 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
823 /100k
1,129 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
2.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.2 /100k
242 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
621 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,823 /100k
1,931 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
15 /M
42 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
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)
56,970 NOK/m²
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
156 m
160 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
141 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr