NUTS-3 NL133 · Netherlands
Zuidwest-Drenthe
Zuidwest-Drenthe generates €6.8bn of GDP across 137.8k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 62.9/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic growth. Its economy has grown +5.9%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 4.8pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for jobs (77th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (38.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader80 → 77 EU percentile since 1995 (-3 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)
Digital readiness98
Governance91
Labour market82
Freight intensity82
Economic base79
Talent & skills71
Resilience71
Growth momentum69
Connectivity62
Energy cost61
Quality of life59
Demographic outlook45
Cost advantage42
Industrial base39
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)
62.9
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth68.6
Livability58.8
Market access80
Economic scale44
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)
70.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability64
Labour stability49
Diversification88
Demographic stability81
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)
62
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density42
Airport access64
Market access80
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)
70.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary46
Lifelong learning91
Knowledge workers67
Scientists & engineers78
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
58.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy68.5
Jobs77
Education54
Health44.5
Safety38.5
Connectivity70
Environment—
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
68.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.9%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+5.0%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.9 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.7%
CAGR
Employment rate
+4.8 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.1 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. · 25.2%Diversified · HHI 1985
Agriculture 2.5%Industry 17.8%Construction 5.6%Trade · transport · ICT 19.4%Finance · real estate · prof. 25.2%Public · health · education 24.9%
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)
€6,808M2024
5.1% 1y 5.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 44
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€5,477M2025
1.4% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 42
Population
137,8322025
0.6% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 26
Unemployment rate
3.5%2025
9.4% 1y 1.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 28
Employment
77,5002024
1.7% 1y 1.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 34
Productivity / employee
€91,8592025
4.7% 1y 5.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 70
Gross value added
€6,110M2024
4.8% 1y 6.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 43
All indicators · 82 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,110M
2024 · EU pctl 43
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€155M
2023 · EU pctl 52
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,086M
2023 · EU pctl 35
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€905M
2023 · EU pctl 38
GVA — construction (F)
€342M
2023 · EU pctl 38
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,186M
2023 · EU pctl 42
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€25,600
2023 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,600 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 79
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,700
2024 · EU pctl 83
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€4,520M
2023 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€407M
2023 · EU pctl 9 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€10,176M
2023 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€443M
2023 · EU pctl 28
GVA — information & communication (J)
€128M
2023 · EU pctl 46
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,539M
2023 · EU pctl 51
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,522M
2023 · EU pctl 50
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,477M
2025 · EU pctl 42
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,859
2025 · EU pctl 70
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,490M
2025 · EU pctl 40
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,500
2024 · EU pctl 34
Self-employed persons
13,700
2023 · EU pctl 45
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,600
2023 · EU pctl 17
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
85.6%
2025 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
7.4%
2025 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
2025 · EU pctl 28
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
73,800
2025 · EU pctl 28
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
14,524
2023 · EU pctl 51
Enterprise births
1,070
2023 · EU pctl 46
Enterprise deaths
681
2023 · EU pctl 38
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
2023 · EU pctl 83
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.8%
2025 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
36.3%
2025 · EU pctl 54 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
40.2%
2025 · EU pctl 46 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
24.6%
2025 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
26.2%
2025 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.7%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
100.0%
2025 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,074,479
2024 · EU pctl 55
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
571 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,454 kt
2025 · EU pctl 46
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
456
CURRENT · EU pctl 33
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
331
CURRENT · EU pctl 42
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
55 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
CURRENT · EU pctl 36
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)
84,146
2025 · EU pctl 25
Population aged 65+
33,732
2025 · EU pctl 27
Population aged under 15
19,954
2025 · EU pctl 28
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 53
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.1%
2025 · EU pctl 69
Crude rate of total population change
6.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 59
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Live births
1,116
2024 · EU pctl 29
Deaths
1,522
2024 · EU pctl 21
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.8%
2025 · EU pctl 76
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
2024 · EU pctl 83
Population density (persons per km²)
198 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 64
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
116,771
2100 · EU pctl 23
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,044 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
264 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 87 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
11.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 29
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
186 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 45
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
798 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 50
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
55 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 73 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.77
2022 · EU pctl 57
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.72
2022 · EU pctl 93
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.73
2022 · EU pctl 91
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.92
2022 · EU pctl 91
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.63
2022 · EU pctl 82
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.142/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 39
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 0
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
11 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 6
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 27
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 29
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 26
Environment
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)
0.7%
2021 · EU pctl 17
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Netherlands regions