NUTS-3 FRJ13 · France
Hérault
Hérault generates €46bn of GDP across 1.3m residents. Its Opportunity Index of 58.2/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +4.5%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.6pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (80th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (13th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable53 → 58 EU percentile since 1995 (+4 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)
Demographic outlook94
Energy cost88
Talent & skills67
Cost advantage62
Resilience60
Growth momentum59
Economic base54
Connectivity49
Quality of life41
Governance38
Air quality23
Digital readiness21
Labour market15
Freight intensity12
Industrial base5
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)
58.2
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth58.8
Livability40.9
Market access39
Economic scale94
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)
59.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability89
Labour stability38
Diversification17
Demographic stability94
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)
48.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density48
Airport access59
Market access39
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)
67
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary78
Lifelong learning68
Knowledge workers80
Scientists & engineers42
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)
22.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.59.7 µg/m³
PM1018.4 µg/m³
NO219.7 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)
40.9
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy46
Jobs13
Education76
Health80
Safety13.7
Connectivity34.5
Environment23.3
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
58.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.5%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.7%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.8 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.6 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. · 33.6%Moderately concentrated · HHI 2552
Agriculture 0.6%Industry 9.9%Construction 5.7%Trade · transport · ICT 21%Finance · real estate · prof. 33.6%Public · health · education 29.1%
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)
€46,218M2024
2.3% 1y 4.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€41,293M2025
0.8% 1y 2.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
Population
1,253,0882025
0.9% 1y 1.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 96
Unemployment rate
8.9%2025
1.1% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 89
Employment
522,3002024
0.9% 1y 2.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
Productivity / employee
€90,1852025
1.9% 1y 3.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 66
Gross value added
€41,226M2024
1.8% 1y 4.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
All indicators · 88 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€41,226M
2024 · EU pctl 94
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€265M
2024 · EU pctl 69
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,101M
2024 · EU pctl 82
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,813M
2024 · EU pctl 63
GVA — construction (F)
€2,330M
2024 · EU pctl 95
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€8,661M
2024 · EU pctl 93
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€22,300
2023 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,100 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 54
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,100
2024 · EU pctl 56
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€22,266M
2024 · EU pctl 69 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,184M
2024 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€47,206M
2024 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€7,183M
2024 · EU pctl 95
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2,206M
2024 · EU pctl 89
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€13,859M
2024 · EU pctl 96
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€12,011M
2024 · EU pctl 96
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€41,293M
2025 · EU pctl 94
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,185
2025 · EU pctl 66
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€10,662M
2025 · EU pctl 94
Labour market
Employment, total persons
522,300
2024 · EU pctl 94
Self-employed persons
79,600
2024 · EU pctl 95
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,100
2024 · EU pctl 60
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
72.3%
2025 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
25.5%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.9%
2025 · EU pctl 89
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
555,800
2025 · EU pctl 95
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
121,001
2023 · EU pctl 96
Enterprise births
17,024
2023 · EU pctl 97
Enterprise deaths
13,794
2023 · EU pctl 98
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.7%
2023 · EU pctl 96
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
2.3%
2023 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.7%
2025 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.6%
2023 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
42.6%
2025 · EU pctl 81 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
48.5%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
13.5%
2025 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
28.5%
2025 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.9%
2025 · EU pctl 42 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
93.0%
2025 · EU pctl 21 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
16,493,857
2025 · EU pctl 98
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
15,249 kt
2025 · EU pctl 78
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
4,923
CURRENT · EU pctl 96
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
393
CURRENT · EU pctl 48
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
22 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 45 · 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.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
768,990
2025 · EU pctl 96
Population aged 65+
292,981
2025 · EU pctl 97
Population aged under 15
191,117
2025 · EU pctl 96
Median age of population
43.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 22
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.1%
2025 · EU pctl 58
Crude rate of total population change
8.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 85
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Crude death rate
9.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Live births
10,735
2024 · EU pctl 96
Deaths
11,783
2024 · EU pctl 96
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.0%
2025 · EU pctl 73
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
2024 · EU pctl 49
Population density (persons per km²)
206 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 65
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,584,288
2100 · EU pctl 97
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
617 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
853 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 16 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
227 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 78
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
105 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
542 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 92
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,497 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 96
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)
280 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 58
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
31 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 84
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
14 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 11
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 85
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
18
2024 · EU pctl 75
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
20
2024 · EU pctl 86
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
62
2024 · EU pctl 81
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
48.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 70
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
2.8%
2021 · EU pctl 48
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other France regions