NUTS-3 FRB01 · France
Cher
Cher generates €9.7bn of GDP across 296.3k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 45.8/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and livability. Its economy has grown +2.9%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 6.4pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (89.7th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (29.7th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable54 → 43 EU percentile since 1995 (-12 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 quality89
Energy cost88
Talent & skills73
Cost advantage56
Quality of life54
Industrial base52
Resilience52
Freight intensity50
Labour market45
Growth momentum43
Economic base38
Governance38
Digital readiness35
Connectivity28
Demographic outlook8
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)
45.8
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth43.4
Livability53.6
Market access28
Economic scale58
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)
51.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability64
Labour stability39
Diversification75
Demographic stability28
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)
28
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density51
Airport access5
Market access28
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)
73
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary85
Lifelong learning79
Knowledge workers71
Scientists & engineers57
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)
89.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.56.2 µg/m³
PM1010.7 µg/m³
NO25.8 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)
53.6
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy41
Jobs38.5
Education59
Health74.5
Safety29.7
Connectivity43
Environment89.7
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
43.4
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+2.9%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+2.3%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.9 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.3%
CAGR
Employment rate
+6.4 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-2.8 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 · 25.2%Diversified · HHI 2112
Agriculture 5.3%Industry 23.6%Construction 5.2%Trade · transport · ICT 16.2%Finance · real estate · prof. 24.6%Public · health · education 25.2%
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)
€9,668M2024
0.8% 1y 2.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 58
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€8,572M2025
0.8% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 59
Population
296,2932025
0.4% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 57
Unemployment rate
6.1%2025
8.9% 1y 7.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 68
Employment
113,5002024
1.0% 1y 0.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 49
Productivity / employee
€86,8082025
1.9% 1y 3.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 58
Gross value added
€8,628M2024
0.3% 1y 3.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 57
All indicators · 89 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,628M
2024 · EU pctl 57
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€458M
2024 · EU pctl 85
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,038M
2024 · EU pctl 59
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,518M
2024 · EU pctl 57
GVA — construction (F)
€445M
2024 · EU pctl 49
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,395M
2024 · EU pctl 48
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€23,500
2023 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,000 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 38
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,600
2024 · EU pctl 44
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€20,283M
2024 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,604M
2024 · EU pctl 55 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€46,136M
2024 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,404M
2024 · EU pctl 65
GVA — information & communication (J)
€194M
2024 · EU pctl 55
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,120M
2024 · EU pctl 63
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,172M
2024 · EU pctl 64
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,572M
2025 · EU pctl 59
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,808
2025 · EU pctl 58
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,179M
2025 · EU pctl 59
Labour market
Employment, total persons
113,500
2024 · EU pctl 49
Self-employed persons
13,100
2024 · EU pctl 43
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,800
2024 · EU pctl 46
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
76.3%
2025 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
18.0%
2025 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.1%
2025 · EU pctl 68
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
130,700
2025 · EU pctl 52
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,983
2023 · EU pctl 55
Enterprise births
2,083
2023 · EU pctl 64
Enterprise deaths
1,671
2023 · EU pctl 64
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
2023 · EU pctl 85
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.4%
2023 · EU pctl 42 · 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)
1.0%
2023 · EU pctl 42 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
41.4%
2025 · EU pctl 76 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
51.6%
2025 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
16.2%
2025 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
26.6%
2025 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
9.0%
2025 · EU pctl 57 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.3%
2025 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
861,314
2025 · EU pctl 49
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
631 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 69 · 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.
1,221
CURRENT · EU pctl 62
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,464 kt
2025 · EU pctl 57
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
412
CURRENT · EU pctl 51
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
25 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
145
CURRENT · EU pctl 95
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
CURRENT · EU pctl 0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
170,176
2025 · EU pctl 54
Population aged 65+
81,638
2025 · EU pctl 66
Population aged under 15
44,479
2025 · EU pctl 62
Median age of population
48.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 71
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
48.0%
2025 · EU pctl 91
Crude rate of total population change
-3.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 22
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 23
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 56
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 75
Live births
2,374
2024 · EU pctl 61
Deaths
3,960
2024 · EU pctl 64
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
74.1%
2025 · EU pctl 95
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
2024 · EU pctl 93
Population density (persons per km²)
41 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 13
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
222,742
2100 · EU pctl 52
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
555 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
862 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
228 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 46 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 50
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
592 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 94
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,319 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 76
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
66 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.46
2022 · EU pctl 44
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.27
2022 · EU pctl 39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
2022 · EU pctl 37
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.39
2022 · EU pctl 43
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.02
2022 · EU pctl 0
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 12
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 44
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
152 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 40
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 72
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 24
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 41
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 10
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
6
2024 · EU pctl 10
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 40
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)
3.7%
2021 · EU pctl 57
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other France regions