NUTS-3 BE212 · Belgium
Arr. Mechelen
Arr. Mechelen generates €21bn of GDP across 362.5k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 75.3/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +5.4%/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 (33th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader78 → 89 EU percentile since 1995 (+11 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 base91
Talent & skills85
Connectivity77
Demographic outlook76
Digital readiness75
Energy cost69
Resilience67
Quality of life62
Growth momentum60
Governance49
Industrial base43
Air quality32
Labour market31
Freight intensity27
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)
75.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth60
Livability62.3
Market access97
Economic scale82
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)
66.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability75
Labour stability79
Diversification25
Demographic stability88
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)
77
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density50
Airport access84
Market access97
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)
32
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.58.8 µg/m³
PM1015.3 µg/m³
NO221.1 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)
62.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy88.5
Jobs41
Education90
Health81
Safety40.3
Connectivity62.5
Environment33
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
60
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.8%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 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. · 30.5%Diversified · HHI 2427
Agriculture 0.9%Industry 17.5%Construction 4.4%Trade · transport · ICT 29.7%Finance · real estate · prof. 30.5%Public · health · education 17%
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)
€21,006M2024
0.9% 1y 5.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€18,215M2025
0.9% 1y 2.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Population
362,4802025
0.6% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 67
Unemployment rate
4.3%2025
4.4% 1y 1.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 50
Employment
163,7002024
0.8% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 66
Productivity / employee
€132,3502025
3.2% 1y 5.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Gross value added
€19,013M2024
0.8% 1y 5.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€19,013M
2024 · EU pctl 82
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€179M
2024 · EU pctl 56
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,336M
2024 · EU pctl 77
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,995M
2024 · EU pctl 80
GVA — construction (F)
€829M
2024 · EU pctl 74
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,646M
2024 · EU pctl 88
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)
51,800 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 91
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€58,100
2024 · EU pctl 91
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)
€1,624M
2024 · EU pctl 69
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,907M
2024 · EU pctl 88
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,800M
2024 · EU pctl 86
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,223M
2024 · EU pctl 77
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€18,215M
2025 · EU pctl 82
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€132,350
2025 · EU pctl 95
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,515M
2025 · EU pctl 85
Labour market
Employment, total persons
163,700
2024 · EU pctl 66
Self-employed persons
27,500
2024 · EU pctl 68
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,800
2024 · EU pctl 59
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)
170,600
2025 · EU pctl 65
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)
509,571
2024 · EU pctl 32
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
492 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,843 kt
2025 · EU pctl 48
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,468
CURRENT · EU pctl 69
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
405
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
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.
22
CURRENT · EU pctl 16
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)
227,736
2025 · EU pctl 67
Population aged 65+
77,797
2025 · EU pctl 64
Population aged under 15
56,947
2025 · EU pctl 70
Median age of population
43.2 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 20
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.2%
2025 · EU pctl 34
Crude rate of total population change
6.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 62
Crude birth rate
9.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 17
Live births
3,440
2024 · EU pctl 74
Deaths
3,467
2024 · EU pctl 58
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.2%
2025 · EU pctl 50
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
2024 · EU pctl 77
Population density (persons per km²)
724 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 86
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
359,095
2100 · EU pctl 71
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
1.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 87
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
38.9 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 74
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
252 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 58
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,079 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 66
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)
8 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 5
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 49
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 24
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 14
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
15
2024 · EU pctl 57
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
21
2024 · EU pctl 90
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)
31.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 54
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
15.0%
2021 · EU pctl 94
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions