NUTS-3 BE254 · Belgium
Arr. Kortrijk
Arr. Kortrijk generates €17bn of GDP across 304.9k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 70.3/100 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 2.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (92.5th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (33.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader82 → 87 EU percentile since 1995 (+4 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 base89
Talent & skills82
Resilience78
Energy cost69
Connectivity66
Growth momentum62
Quality of life61
Industrial base52
Labour market51
Governance49
Demographic outlook46
Air quality41
Freight intensity34
Digital readiness26
Cost advantage4
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)
70.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth61.6
Livability60.5
Market access81
Economic scale78
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)
77.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability75
Labour stability90
Diversification59
Demographic stability87
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)
65.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density41
Airport access75
Market access81
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)
82.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary84
Lifelong learning85
Knowledge workers87
Scientists & engineers73
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)
40.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.59.4 µg/m³
PM1017.1 µg/m³
NO211.2 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)
60.5
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy92.5
Jobs69.5
Education68.5
Health82
Safety35.7
Connectivity33.5
Environment41.7
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
61.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.0 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.8%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.7 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. · 29.5%Diversified · HHI 2201
Agriculture 0.7%Industry 20.8%Construction 8.3%Trade · transport · ICT 21.2%Finance · real estate · prof. 29.5%Public · health · education 19.4%
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)
€17,027M2024
1.8% 1y 5.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€14,448M2025
0.9% 1y 2.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
Population
304,8832025
0.7% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 59
Unemployment rate
3.0%2025
11.1% 1y 1.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 14
Employment
150,2002024
0.1% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 63
Productivity / employee
€116,9542025
3.2% 1y 5.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 92
Gross value added
€15,412M2024
1.8% 1y 5.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,412M
2024 · EU pctl 78
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€110M
2024 · EU pctl 40
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,209M
2024 · EU pctl 75
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,706M
2024 · EU pctl 76
GVA — construction (F)
€1,286M
2024 · EU pctl 86
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,268M
2024 · EU pctl 78
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€31,200
2024 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
49,900 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 89
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€56,000
2024 · EU pctl 89
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€16,710M
2023 · EU pctl 59 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,304M
2023 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€29,133M
2024 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,338M
2024 · EU pctl 62
GVA — information & communication (J)
€395M
2024 · EU pctl 71
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,552M
2024 · EU pctl 82
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,987M
2024 · EU pctl 74
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€14,448M
2025 · EU pctl 77
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€116,954
2025 · EU pctl 92
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,644M
2025 · EU pctl 82
Labour market
Employment, total persons
150,200
2024 · EU pctl 63
Self-employed persons
26,300
2024 · EU pctl 66
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,900
2024 · EU pctl 68
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
76.2%
2025 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
11.7%
2025 · EU pctl 42 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
2025 · EU pctl 14
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
146,200
2025 · EU pctl 58
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.7%
2023 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.9%
2025 · EU pctl 42 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.4%
2023 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
42.7%
2025 · EU pctl 81 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
51.3%
2025 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
18.6%
2025 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
30.9%
2025 · EU pctl 87 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.4%
2025 · EU pctl 73 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
93.7%
2025 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
397,161
2024 · EU pctl 26
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
512 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,592 kt
2025 · EU pctl 47
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
957
CURRENT · EU pctl 53
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
314
CURRENT · EU pctl 41
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
59 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 89 · 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.
4
CURRENT · EU pctl 90
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
188,712
2025 · EU pctl 58
Population aged 65+
67,017
2025 · EU pctl 57
Population aged under 15
49,154
2025 · EU pctl 65
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 18
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.5%
2025 · EU pctl 42
Crude rate of total population change
7.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 84
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 76
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 24
Live births
2,857
2024 · EU pctl 69
Deaths
3,081
2024 · EU pctl 52
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.6%
2025 · EU pctl 66
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
2024 · EU pctl 77
Population density (persons per km²)
748 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 87
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
295,558
2100 · EU pctl 64
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
634 /100k
2025 · EU pctl 82 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
849 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
205 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 15 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
83.9 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
326 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 71
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,341 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
43 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 48 · 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)
23 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 8
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 29
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
29 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 20
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.
17
2024 · EU pctl 68
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 42
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
68.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 80
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
6.8%
2021 · EU pctl 77
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions