NUTS-3 BE255 · Belgium
Arr. Oostende
Export region data (CSV)Arr. Oostende generates €7.2bn of GDP across 161.3k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 61.6/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic growth. Its economy has grown +6.9%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 2.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (84th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (35.5th).
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
61.6
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth64.4
Livability63
Market access73
Economic scale46
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)
68.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability56
Labour stability90
Diversification57
Demographic stability70
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)
72.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density45
Airport access99
Market access73
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.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
63
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy84
Jobs69.5
Education68.5
Health82
Safety38.7
Connectivity35.5
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
64.4
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+6.9%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+5.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.5 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+1.4 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.4%
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. · 27.2%Diversified · HHI 2208
Agriculture 0.8%Industry 22.8%Construction 6.8%Trade · transport · ICT 19.7%Finance · real estate · prof. 27.2%Public · health · education 22.6%
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)
€6,484M
2024 · EU pctl 46
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€55M
2024 · EU pctl 23
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,478M
2024 · EU pctl 46
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€682M
2024 · EU pctl 29
GVA — construction (F)
€440M
2024 · EU pctl 48
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,280M
2024 · EU pctl 45
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)
39,700 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 72
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,500
2024 · EU pctl 74
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)
€1,030M
2024 · EU pctl 53
GVA — information & communication (J)
€51M
2024 · EU pctl 30
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,764M
2024 · EU pctl 57
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,468M
2024 · EU pctl 49
Labour market
Employment, total persons
53,900
2024 · EU pctl 19
Self-employed persons
11,800
2024 · EU pctl 40
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,900
2024 · EU pctl 11
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
Innovation & R&D
EPO patent applications
9
2012 · EU pctl 38
EPO patent applications per million inhabitants
60 /M pop
2012 · EU pctl 42
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
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)
3,456,234
2024 · EU pctl 81
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
512 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · 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.
584
CURRENT · EU pctl 38
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
362
CURRENT · EU pctl 45
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
4
CURRENT · EU pctl 0
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
93,568
2025 · EU pctl 29
Population aged 65+
47,025
2025 · EU pctl 40
Population aged under 15
20,691
2025 · EU pctl 30
Median age of population
50.5 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 87
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.3%
2025 · EU pctl 94
Crude rate of total population change
5.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
11.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Crude birth rate
7.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 43
Crude death rate
13.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Live births
1,203
2024 · EU pctl 33
Deaths
2,164
2024 · EU pctl 36
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
72.4%
2025 · EU pctl 93
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.52
2024 · EU pctl 75
Population density (persons per km²)
551 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 84
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
9.8%
2025 · EU pctl 2 · NUTS-2 src
Life expectancy at birth
83.1 yrs
2024 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
637 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 83 · 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
0.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 47
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
59.8 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 86
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
263 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 60
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,849 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
43 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 48 · NUTS-2 src
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
2 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 2
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 18
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
20 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 14
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