NUTS-3 FRF21 · France
Ardennes
Ardennes generates €8.5bn of GDP across 263k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 53.6/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +3.5%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 8.9pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (86.7th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (21th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable49 → 41 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)
Energy cost88
Air quality85
Freight intensity69
Cost advantage61
Growth momentum50
Connectivity50
Resilience49
Quality of life45
Industrial base45
Talent & skills44
Governance38
Economic base36
Digital readiness36
Labour market18
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)
53.6
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth50
Livability45.4
Market access66
Economic scale53
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)
49.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability59
Labour stability43
Diversification75
Demographic stability20
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)
50
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density63
Airport access21
Market access66
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)
44
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary50
Lifelong learning68
Knowledge workers36
Scientists & engineers22
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)
85.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.56.3 µg/m³
PM1011.9 µg/m³
NO25.9 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)
45.4
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy37.5
Jobs21
Education28
Health61
Safety34.3
Connectivity49.5
Environment86.7
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
50
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.5%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+2.8%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.2 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.5%
CAGR
Employment rate
+8.9 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-4.7 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 · 26.3%Diversified · HHI 2110
Agriculture 5.5%Industry 25.7%Construction 5.1%Trade · transport · ICT 18.5%Finance · real estate · prof. 19%Public · health · education 26.3%
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)
€8,501M2024
0.1% 1y 3.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€7,452M2025
0.8% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 54
Population
262,9922025
0.5% 1y 0.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 52
Unemployment rate
7.0%2025
2.8% 1y 9.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Employment
92,4002024
0.9% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 41
Productivity / employee
€93,7672025
1.9% 1y 4.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 73
Gross value added
€7,582M2024
0.6% 1y 3.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,582M
2024 · EU pctl 53
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€414M
2024 · EU pctl 83
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,951M
2024 · EU pctl 57
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,224M
2024 · EU pctl 49
GVA — construction (F)
€383M
2024 · EU pctl 43
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,403M
2024 · EU pctl 49
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€22,400
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,400 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 36
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,900
2024 · EU pctl 42
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€11,131M
2024 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,531M
2024 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€22,820M
2024 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€958M
2024 · EU pctl 51
GVA — information & communication (J)
€570M
2024 · EU pctl 77
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,437M
2024 · EU pctl 48
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,994M
2024 · EU pctl 61
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,452M
2025 · EU pctl 54
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€93,767
2025 · EU pctl 73
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,936M
2025 · EU pctl 53
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,400
2024 · EU pctl 41
Self-employed persons
11,400
2024 · EU pctl 40
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
2024 · EU pctl 42
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
72.4%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
18.6%
2025 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.0%
2025 · EU pctl 76
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
112,900
2025 · EU pctl 46
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,991
2023 · EU pctl 50
Enterprise births
1,798
2023 · EU pctl 59
Enterprise deaths
1,390
2023 · EU pctl 59
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
2023 · EU pctl 87
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.6%
2023 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
1.5%
2024 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.6%
2023 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
33.8%
2025 · EU pctl 46 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
41.0%
2025 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
13.6%
2025 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
21.3%
2025 · EU pctl 36 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
6.6%
2025 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.3%
2025 · EU pctl 36 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
464,672
2025 · EU pctl 30
Mobility
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,414
CURRENT · EU pctl 67
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,922 kt
2025 · EU pctl 63
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
21 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
538
CURRENT · EU pctl 63
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
CURRENT · EU pctl 79
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
155,823
2025 · EU pctl 49
Population aged 65+
63,919
2025 · EU pctl 54
Population aged under 15
43,250
2025 · EU pctl 60
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 46
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.0%
2025 · EU pctl 73
Crude rate of total population change
-5.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 4
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 62
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 36
Live births
2,161
2024 · EU pctl 56
Deaths
2,837
2024 · EU pctl 48
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.8%
2025 · EU pctl 88
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
2024 · EU pctl 90
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 17
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
196,030
2100 · EU pctl 45
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
558 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
930 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
228 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
37.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
417 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 82
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 74
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
80 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 92 · 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)
192 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 47
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 37
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 36
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 60
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
12
2024 · EU pctl 18
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).
53
2024 · EU pctl 43
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
67.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 79
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
13.6%
2021 · EU pctl 92
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other France regions