NUTS-3 BE225 · Belgium
Arr. Maaseik
Arr. Maaseik generates €9.7bn of GDP across 261.8k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 67.5/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and livability. Its economy has grown +5.5%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (85th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (37.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable57 → 52 EU percentile since 1995 (-5 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)
Connectivity83
Talent & skills78
Resilience77
Energy cost69
Quality of life59
Air quality55
Growth momentum55
Economic base50
Freight intensity49
Industrial base49
Governance49
Digital readiness46
Labour market25
Cost advantage22
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)
67.5
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth54.6
Livability59.3
Market access98
Economic scale58
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)
76.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability67
Labour stability80
Diversification78
Demographic stability81
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)
82.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density75
Airport access75
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)
78.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary80
Lifelong learning71
Knowledge workers82
Scientists & engineers80
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)
55
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.58.5 µg/m³
PM1015.7 µg/m³
NO29 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)
59.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy64
Jobs37.5
Education70
Health85
Safety42
Connectivity60.5
Environment56
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
54.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.5%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.7%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.6%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.1 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+0.8 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. · 27.9%Diversified · HHI 2088
Agriculture 2%Industry 18.6%Construction 10%Trade · transport · ICT 20.2%Finance · real estate · prof. 27.9%Public · health · education 21.2%
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)
€9,671M2024
2.6% 1y 5.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 58
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€8,161M2025
0.9% 1y 2.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 57
Population
261,7612025
0.5% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 52
Unemployment rate
4.3%2025
13.2% 1y 3.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 50
Employment
95,8002024
0.3% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 42
Productivity / employee
€104,1142025
3.2% 1y 6.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 86
Gross value added
€8,754M2024
2.6% 1y 5.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 58
All indicators · 83 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,754M
2024 · EU pctl 58
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€176M
2024 · EU pctl 55
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,629M
2024 · EU pctl 50
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,484M
2024 · EU pctl 56
GVA — construction (F)
€879M
2024 · EU pctl 76
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,770M
2024 · EU pctl 58
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€28,300
2024 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,000 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 50
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,000
2024 · EU pctl 56
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€9,890M
2023 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,527M
2023 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€19,341M
2024 · EU pctl 30 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,076M
2024 · EU pctl 55
GVA — information & communication (J)
€91M
2024 · EU pctl 41
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,440M
2024 · EU pctl 68
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,860M
2024 · EU pctl 59
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,161M
2025 · EU pctl 57
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,114
2025 · EU pctl 86
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,637M
2025 · EU pctl 66
Labour market
Employment, total persons
95,800
2024 · EU pctl 42
Self-employed persons
20,400
2024 · EU pctl 58
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,900
2024 · EU pctl 47
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
73.0%
2025 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
9.6%
2025 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.3%
2025 · EU pctl 50
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
120,500
2025 · EU pctl 49
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.9%
2023 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.5%
2025 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.4%
2023 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
41.5%
2025 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
49.2%
2025 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
14.6%
2025 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
28.6%
2025 · EU pctl 82 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.9%
2025 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
95.0%
2025 · EU pctl 46 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,251,389
2024 · EU pctl 79
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
545 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 30 · 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.
1,724
CURRENT · EU pctl 75
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,346 kt
2025 · EU pctl 51
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
659
CURRENT · EU pctl 75
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
44 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
CURRENT · EU pctl 25
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)
163,594
2025 · EU pctl 51
Population aged 65+
59,301
2025 · EU pctl 50
Population aged under 15
38,866
2025 · EU pctl 54
Median age of population
45.2 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 39
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
2025 · EU pctl 47
Crude rate of total population change
5.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 76
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 55
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 67
Crude death rate
8.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 9
Live births
2,200
2024 · EU pctl 57
Deaths
2,258
2024 · EU pctl 37
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.0%
2025 · EU pctl 56
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
2024 · EU pctl 67
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
463 /100k
2025 · EU pctl 47 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
843 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
196 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 6 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 85
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 49
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
595 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 38
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
46 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 51 · 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)
47 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 14
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 43
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 27
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.
16
2024 · EU pctl 59
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
9
2024 · EU pctl 26
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
52
2024 · EU pctl 40
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
109 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 89
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
2.8%
2021 · EU pctl 48
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions