NUTS-3 FRG04 · France
Sarthe
Sarthe generates €18bn of GDP across 565.4k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 54.3/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and livability. Its economy has grown +3.1%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (89th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (29.7th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run faller61 → 42 EU percentile since 1995 (-19 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 quality81
Talent & skills72
Resilience67
Cost advantage57
Quality of life53
Industrial base51
Freight intensity50
Labour market42
Governance38
Digital readiness36
Economic base34
Growth momentum34
Connectivity33
Demographic outlook23
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)
54.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth33.6
Livability53.4
Market access51
Economic scale79
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)
66.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability94
Labour stability71
Diversification60
Demographic stability41
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)
33.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density47
Airport access2
Market access51
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)
72.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary90
Lifelong learning80
Knowledge workers70
Scientists & engineers49
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)
81
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.57.3 µg/m³
PM1010.8 µg/m³
NO27.7 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)
53.4
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy38.5
Jobs34.5
Education59.5
Health89
Safety29.7
Connectivity41.5
Environment81.3
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
33.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+1.9%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.2 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.6 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.7 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. · 27.7%Diversified · HHI 2194
Agriculture 2.9%Industry 18.6%Construction 6.2%Trade · transport · ICT 17.9%Finance · real estate · prof. 27.7%Public · health · education 26.7%
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)
€17,882M2024
1.9% 1y 3.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 79
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€16,060M2025
0.8% 1y 1.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 80
Population
565,4032025
0.1% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 81
Unemployment rate
6.6%2025
4.8% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 73
Employment
231,2002024
0.6% 1y 1.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
Productivity / employee
€78,8262025
1.9% 1y 3.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 40
Gross value added
€15,970M2024
1.4% 1y 3.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
All indicators · 89 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,970M
2024 · EU pctl 78
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€459M
2024 · EU pctl 85
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,978M
2024 · EU pctl 71
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,757M
2024 · EU pctl 77
GVA — construction (F)
€991M
2024 · EU pctl 79
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,855M
2024 · EU pctl 75
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€23,300
2023 · EU pctl 43 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,000 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 34
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,500
2024 · EU pctl 40
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€32,580M
2024 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€4,197M
2024 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€79,082M
2024 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,384M
2024 · EU pctl 79
GVA — information & communication (J)
€200M
2024 · EU pctl 56
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,424M
2024 · EU pctl 81
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,265M
2024 · EU pctl 83
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€16,060M
2025 · EU pctl 80
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,826
2025 · EU pctl 40
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,006M
2025 · EU pctl 79
Labour market
Employment, total persons
231,200
2024 · EU pctl 77
Self-employed persons
22,800
2024 · EU pctl 62
Employment in manufacturing (C)
35,800
2024 · EU pctl 77
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.1%
2025 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
16.1%
2025 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.6%
2025 · EU pctl 73
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
258,100
2025 · EU pctl 79
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,733
2023 · EU pctl 72
Enterprise births
3,921
2023 · EU pctl 80
Enterprise deaths
2,972
2023 · EU pctl 76
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.1%
2023 · EU pctl 89
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.3%
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.5%
2025 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.1%
2023 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
42.2%
2025 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
54.9%
2025 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
16.8%
2025 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
26.5%
2025 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
8.4%
2025 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.3%
2025 · EU pctl 36 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,423,700
2025 · EU pctl 60
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
611 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,189 kt
2025 · EU pctl 81
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,142
CURRENT · EU pctl 82
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
379
CURRENT · EU pctl 47
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
23 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 48 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
175
CURRENT · EU pctl 98
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)
334,744
2025 · EU pctl 78
Population aged 65+
135,972
2025 · EU pctl 86
Population aged under 15
94,687
2025 · EU pctl 86
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 34
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.6%
2025 · EU pctl 71
Crude rate of total population change
-1.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Crude death rate
10.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 32
Live births
5,088
2024 · EU pctl 86
Deaths
6,021
2024 · EU pctl 81
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
68.9%
2025 · EU pctl 88
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.70
2024 · EU pctl 94
Population density (persons per km²)
91 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 36
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
488,143
2100 · EU pctl 80
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
450 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
799 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 5 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
223 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 81
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
57.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 85
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
485 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 88
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,302 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 76
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
47 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 54 · 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)
108 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 30
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 60
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 19
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 29
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 11
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
8
2024 · EU pctl 19
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
51
2024 · EU pctl 36
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
159 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 93
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
6.6%
2021 · EU pctl 77
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other France regions