NUTS-3 BE335 · Belgium
Arr. Verviers — communes francophones
Arr. Verviers — communes francophones generates €7.4bn of GDP across 213.8k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 56.2/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by market access and livability. Its economy has grown +3.1%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 1.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (96th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (14.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable54 → 46 EU percentile since 1995 (-7 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)
Air quality95
Connectivity81
Talent & skills79
Energy cost69
Demographic outlook62
Resilience56
Quality of life52
Governance49
Cost advantage42
Economic base41
Growth momentum35
Digital readiness32
Industrial base28
Freight intensity9
Labour market6
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)
56.2
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth35
Livability51.7
Market access92
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)
55.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability73
Labour stability37
Diversification54
Demographic stability59
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)
80.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density91
Airport access59
Market access92
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)
79.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary74
Lifelong learning75
Knowledge workers86
Scientists & engineers82
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)
95.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.54.9 µg/m³
PM108.8 µg/m³
NO24.4 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)
51.7
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy49.5
Jobs14.5
Education77
Health35.5
Safety28
Connectivity61.5
Environment96
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
35
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+2.8%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.3 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-2.4 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.3%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.6 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: Public · health · education · 28.8%Diversified · HHI 2224
Agriculture 1.1%Industry 15.9%Construction 9.7%Trade · transport · ICT 16.9%Finance · real estate · prof. 27.6%Public · health · education 28.8%
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)
€7,357M2024
2.2% 1y 3.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 46
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€6,263M2025
0.9% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 48
Population
213,7602025
0.4% 1y 0.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 43
Unemployment rate
7.1%2025
1.4% 1y 1.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Employment
74,6002024
0.1% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 32
Productivity / employee
€101,7362025
3.2% 1y 4.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 83
Gross value added
€6,659M2024
2.2% 1y 3.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 47
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,659M
2024 · EU pctl 47
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€73M
2024 · EU pctl 29
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,058M
2024 · EU pctl 34
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€800M
2024 · EU pctl 34
GVA — construction (F)
€646M
2024 · EU pctl 65
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,129M
2024 · EU pctl 40
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€25,600
2024 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,700 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 41
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,500
2024 · EU pctl 49
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€8,523M
2023 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€941M
2023 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€22,375M
2024 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€868M
2024 · EU pctl 47
GVA — information & communication (J)
€44M
2024 · EU pctl 28
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,836M
2024 · EU pctl 58
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,917M
2024 · EU pctl 59
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,263M
2025 · EU pctl 48
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€101,736
2025 · EU pctl 83
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,522M
2025 · EU pctl 41
Labour market
Employment, total persons
74,600
2024 · EU pctl 32
Self-employed persons
15,300
2024 · EU pctl 50
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,500
2024 · EU pctl 24
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
65.6%
2025 · EU pctl 4 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
22.8%
2025 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
2025 · EU pctl 76
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
88,200
2025 · EU pctl 36
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
2.5%
2023 · EU pctl 76 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.4%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.5%
2023 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
41.8%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
47.0%
2025 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
15.2%
2025 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
29.9%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
11.1%
2025 · EU pctl 82 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.1%
2025 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,182,701
2024 · EU pctl 57
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
497 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 19 · 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.
2,115
CURRENT · EU pctl 81
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,266 kt
2025 · EU pctl 14
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
989
CURRENT · EU pctl 91
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
69 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
CURRENT · EU pctl 41
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
CURRENT · EU pctl 75
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
134,272
2025 · EU pctl 44
Population aged 65+
43,472
2025 · EU pctl 36
Population aged under 15
36,016
2025 · EU pctl 51
Median age of population
41.8 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 11
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.4%
2025 · EU pctl 24
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 46
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 85
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 20
Live births
1,945
2024 · EU pctl 52
Deaths
2,090
2024 · EU pctl 34
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.2%
2025 · EU pctl 50
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
2024 · EU pctl 71
Population density (persons per km²)
184 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 62
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
206,347
2100 · EU pctl 48
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
558 /100k
2025 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,052 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
236 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 62 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
51.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
969 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 61
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
51 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 65 · 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)
399 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 73
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 20
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 46
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 69
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
9
2024 · EU pctl 2
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
4
2024 · EU pctl 6
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 42
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
18.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 34
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
5.7%
2021 · EU pctl 71
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Belgium regions