NUTS-3 BE242 · Belgium
Arr. Leuven
Arr. Leuven generates €26bn of GDP across 531k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 76.7/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +5.8%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 2.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (95th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (37th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run riser64 → 81 EU percentile since 1995 (+17 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)
Talent & skills93
Connectivity84
Economic base82
Quality of life72
Energy cost69
Demographic outlook67
Air quality64
Resilience63
Growth momentum52
Digital readiness51
Governance49
Labour market39
Industrial base13
Freight intensity6
Cost advantage2
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)
76.7
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth52.2
Livability71.7
Market access96
Economic scale87
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)
63
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability70
Labour stability89
Diversification9
Demographic stability84
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)
83.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density74
Airport access81
Market access96
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)
93
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary95
Lifelong learning86
Knowledge workers98
Scientists & engineers93
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)
64
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.57.9 µg/m³
PM1014.2 µg/m³
NO28.7 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)
71.7
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy90
Jobs37
Education95
Health91
Safety61.3
Connectivity62.5
Environment65
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
52.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.8%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.7%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.1 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.2 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.7%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.1 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+1.6 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. · 37.7%Moderately concentrated · HHI 2723
Agriculture 1%Industry 10.5%Construction 3.1%Trade · transport · ICT 19.2%Finance · real estate · prof. 37.7%Public · health · education 28.5%
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)
€26,327M2024
2.5% 1y 5.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€22,870M2025
0.9% 1y 3.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
Population
530,9712025
0.7% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 79
Unemployment rate
5.5%2025
31.0% 1y 7.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 64
Employment
206,1002024
0.0% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 74
Productivity / employee
€131,7392025
3.2% 1y 6.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Gross value added
€23,830M2024
2.5% 1y 6.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,830M
2024 · EU pctl 87
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€240M
2024 · EU pctl 65
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,500M
2024 · EU pctl 66
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,849M
2024 · EU pctl 64
GVA — construction (F)
€745M
2024 · EU pctl 71
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,566M
2024 · EU pctl 85
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€32,200
2024 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,300 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 82
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,800
2024 · EU pctl 83
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€16,879M
2023 · EU pctl 60 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€800M
2023 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€32,835M
2024 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,558M
2024 · EU pctl 80
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,138M
2024 · EU pctl 84
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€8,990M
2024 · EU pctl 92
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€6,789M
2024 · EU pctl 91
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€22,870M
2025 · EU pctl 87
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€131,739
2025 · EU pctl 95
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,820M
2025 · EU pctl 89
Labour market
Employment, total persons
206,100
2024 · EU pctl 74
Self-employed persons
42,700
2024 · EU pctl 83
Employment in manufacturing (C)
13,600
2024 · EU pctl 40
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
74.4%
2025 · EU pctl 29 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
19.7%
2025 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.5%
2025 · EU pctl 64
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
253,500
2025 · EU pctl 79
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
5.2%
2023 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
7.4%
2025 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
4.4%
2023 · EU pctl 99 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
56.7%
2025 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
57.8%
2025 · EU pctl 95 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
19.0%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
39.9%
2025 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
13.4%
2025 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
95.6%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
866,158
2024 · EU pctl 49
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
720 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,728 kt
2025 · EU pctl 35
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,495
CURRENT · EU pctl 92
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
83 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
658
CURRENT · EU pctl 74
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
26
CURRENT · EU pctl 19
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)
336,542
2025 · EU pctl 79
Population aged 65+
114,853
2025 · EU pctl 79
Population aged under 15
79,576
2025 · EU pctl 80
Median age of population
43.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 22
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
2025 · EU pctl 33
Crude rate of total population change
7.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 84
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 64
Crude death rate
9.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Live births
4,384
2024 · EU pctl 81
Deaths
4,959
2024 · EU pctl 74
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.8%
2025 · EU pctl 40
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.32
2024 · EU pctl 37
Population density (persons per km²)
453 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 81
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
524,005
2100 · EU pctl 82
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
376 /100k
2025 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
810 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
196 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 6 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 71
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
337 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,269 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 75
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
26 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 10 · 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)
55 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 16
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 36
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 25
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 9
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
14
2024 · EU pctl 44
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 25
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
55
2024 · EU pctl 57
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
46.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 68
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
2.7%
2021 · EU pctl 47
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions