NUTS-3 BE231 · Belgium
Arr. Aalst
Export region data (CSV)Arr. Aalst generates €10bn of GDP across 307.9k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 67.2/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and livability. Its economy has grown +5.6%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 1.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (90.5th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (46.7th).
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
67.2
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth50.4
Livability64.2
Market access93
Economic scale61
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)
71
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability68
Labour stability83
Diversification42
Demographic stability91
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)
70.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density54
Airport access65
Market access93
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)
90.8
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary91
Lifelong learning88
Knowledge workers96
Scientists & engineers88
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
64.2
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy66
Jobs51.5
Education90.5
Health77
Safety46.7
Connectivity53.5
Environment—
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
50.4
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.6%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.2 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.0 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.9%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.7 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+1.5 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. · 31.6%Diversified · HHI 2301
Agriculture 0.4%Industry 13.8%Construction 9.8%Trade · transport · ICT 18.3%Finance · real estate · prof. 31.6%Public · health · education 26.1%
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).
All indicators · 65 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,368M
2024 · EU pctl 61
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€42M
2024 · EU pctl 18
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,288M
2024 · EU pctl 41
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,103M
2024 · EU pctl 45
GVA — construction (F)
€915M
2024 · EU pctl 78
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,717M
2024 · EU pctl 57
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€30,800
2024 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,100 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 38
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,800
2024 · EU pctl 47
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€20,203M
2023 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,558M
2023 · EU pctl 55 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€37,875M
2024 · EU pctl 57 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,358M
2024 · EU pctl 63
GVA — information & communication (J)
€248M
2024 · EU pctl 61
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,961M
2024 · EU pctl 74
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,445M
2024 · EU pctl 68
Labour market
Employment, total persons
95,500
2024 · EU pctl 42
Self-employed persons
22,300
2024 · EU pctl 61
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,200
2024 · EU pctl 26
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
76.7%
2025 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
16.6%
2025 · EU pctl 59 · NUTS-2 src
Innovation & R&D
EPO patent applications
19
2012 · EU pctl 54
EPO patent applications per million inhabitants
70 /M pop
2012 · EU pctl 45
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
3.4%
2023 · EU pctl 87 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
5.7%
2025 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
48.8%
2025 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
56.4%
2025 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
20.5%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
35.9%
2025 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
11.9%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
95.7%
2025 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
240,497
2024 · EU pctl 14
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
475 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 15 · 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.
1,380
CURRENT · EU pctl 66
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
448
CURRENT · EU pctl 54
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
40
CURRENT · EU pctl 34
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
CURRENT · EU pctl 90
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
193,125
2025 · EU pctl 59
Population aged 65+
65,741
2025 · EU pctl 56
Population aged under 15
49,007
2025 · EU pctl 65
Median age of population
43.9 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 26
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.0%
2025 · EU pctl 32
Crude rate of total population change
8.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 86
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 24
Live births
2,749
2024 · EU pctl 68
Deaths
3,086
2024 · EU pctl 52
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.4%
2025 · EU pctl 52
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.52
2024 · EU pctl 75
Population density (persons per km²)
648 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 86
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
12.1%
2025 · EU pctl 5 · NUTS-2 src
Life expectancy at birth
83.0 yrs
2024 · EU pctl 76 · NUTS-2 src
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
571 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
867 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
222 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
44.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 79
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
226 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 53
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
930 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 59
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
38 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
63 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 18
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 33
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
34 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 24
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 20
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions