NUTS-3 BE211 · Belgium
Arr. Antwerpen
Arr. Antwerpen generates €68bn of GDP across 1.1m residents. Its Opportunity Index of 77.5/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +5.1%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (90th EU percentile) and weakest for clean environment (26.7th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader92 → 90 EU percentile since 1995 (-2 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Economic base93
Talent & skills85
Demographic outlook78
Digital readiness75
Energy cost69
Connectivity67
Resilience62
Quality of life60
Growth momentum56
Governance49
Industrial base39
Labour market31
Freight intensity31
Air quality26
Cost advantage14
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
77.5
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth55.8
Livability60.3
Market access98
Economic scale96
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
62.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability57
Labour stability79
Diversification27
Demographic stability86
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
67
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density39
Airport access64
Market access98
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
84.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary85
Lifelong learning86
Knowledge workers88
Scientists & engineers79
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
25.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.59.1 µg/m³
PM1017 µg/m³
NO223.1 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
60.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy89.5
Jobs41
Education90
Health81
Safety37
Connectivity57
Environment26.7
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
55.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.1%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.0 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.5 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.8%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+0.3 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Finance · real estate · prof. · 31.7%Diversified · HHI 2408
Agriculture 0.4%Industry 16.7%Construction 5%Trade · transport · ICT 27.1%Finance · real estate · prof. 31.7%Public · health · education 19.2%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
Trends · 2009–2024
GDP (current prices)
€67,610M2024
1.2% 1y 5.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€58,628M2025
0.9% 1y 3.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
Population
1,101,6872025
0.9% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Unemployment rate
4.3%2025
6.5% 1y 1.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 50
Employment
516,2002024
0.3% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
Productivity / employee
€135,0912025
3.2% 1y 5.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Gross value added
€61,196M2024
1.2% 1y 5.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€61,196M
2024 · EU pctl 96
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€245M
2024 · EU pctl 66
GVA — industry (B–E)
€10,193M
2024 · EU pctl 96
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€8,997M
2024 · EU pctl 97
GVA — construction (F)
€3,047M
2024 · EU pctl 96
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€16,560M
2024 · EU pctl 97
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€29,500
2024 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
54,900 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 93
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€61,600
2024 · EU pctl 93
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€29,336M
2023 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€7,442M
2023 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€54,762M
2024 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€5,616M
2024 · EU pctl 93
GVA — information & communication (J)
€3,081M
2024 · EU pctl 92
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€19,394M
2024 · EU pctl 97
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€11,757M
2024 · EU pctl 96
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€58,628M
2025 · EU pctl 96
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€135,091
2025 · EU pctl 95
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€17,749M
2025 · EU pctl 97
Labour market
Employment, total persons
516,200
2024 · EU pctl 94
Self-employed persons
83,900
2024 · EU pctl 95
Employment in manufacturing (C)
45,300
2024 · EU pctl 85
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
74.6%
2025 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
11.3%
2025 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
2025 · EU pctl 50
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
522,300
2025 · EU pctl 94
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
4.1%
2023 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
6.6%
2025 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.6%
2023 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
47.3%
2025 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
51.5%
2025 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
19.4%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
31.1%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.8%
2025 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
96.7%
2025 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,125,296
2024 · EU pctl 78
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
492 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,200
CURRENT · EU pctl 91
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
22,998 kt
2025 · EU pctl 91
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
291
CURRENT · EU pctl 39
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
78 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
CURRENT · EU pctl 36
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
CURRENT · EU pctl 96
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
697,240
2025 · EU pctl 95
Population aged 65+
215,026
2025 · EU pctl 93
Population aged under 15
189,421
2025 · EU pctl 96
Median age of population
40.5 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 5
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.8%
2025 · EU pctl 17
Crude rate of total population change
9.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 72
Crude birth rate
10.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude death rate
8.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 11
Live births
11,660
2024 · EU pctl 96
Deaths
9,680
2024 · EU pctl 94
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.0%
2025 · EU pctl 41
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
2024 · EU pctl 88
Population density (persons per km²)
1,143 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 91
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,316,176
2100 · EU pctl 96
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
525 /100k
2025 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
861 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
199 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 72
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
104 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
377 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 78
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,038 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
34 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.31
2022 · EU pctl 40
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.41
2022 · EU pctl 52
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.34
2022 · EU pctl 49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
2022 · EU pctl 52
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.25
2022 · EU pctl 18
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.130/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 31
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.046/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 14
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
16 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 7
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 41
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 23
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 20
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
17
2024 · EU pctl 67
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
23
2024 · EU pctl 93
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
48
2024 · EU pctl 19
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
187 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 94
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
0.5%
2021 · EU pctl 12
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions