NUTS-3 NL423 · Netherlands
Zuid-Limburg
Zuid-Limburg generates €29bn of GDP across 600.1k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 73.4/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +3.3%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 5.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for jobs (77.5th EU percentile) and weakest for health (42th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader71 → 79 EU percentile since 1995 (+8 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)
Governance91
Digital readiness88
Talent & skills78
Connectivity78
Economic base77
Labour market67
Air quality65
Energy cost61
Quality of life61
Resilience52
Growth momentum48
Cost advantage45
Demographic outlook32
Industrial base29
Freight intensity27
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)
73.4
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth48.2
Livability60.5
Market access96
Economic scale89
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)
51.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability64
Labour stability53
Diversification39
Demographic stability51
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)
78
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density42
Airport access96
Market access96
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)
78.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary79
Lifelong learning89
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.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
65
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.57.2 µg/m³
PM1013.8 µg/m³
NO210.7 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)
60.5
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy66
Jobs77.5
Education59
Health42
Safety48
Connectivity65
Environment65.7
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
48.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.3%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.6%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.3 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-2.8 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+5.1 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.5 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 · 30.3%Diversified · HHI 2320
Agriculture 0.5%Industry 15.1%Construction 3.9%Trade · transport · ICT 21.9%Finance · real estate · prof. 26%Public · health · education 30.3%
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)
€29,224M2024
2.6% 1y 3.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 89
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€24,214M2025
1.4% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 88
Population
600,1492025
0.0% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 84
Unemployment rate
3.0%2025
9.1% 1y 3.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 14
Employment
316,7002024
2.2% 1y 1.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
Productivity / employee
€96,4912025
4.7% 1y 3.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
Gross value added
€26,227M2024
2.3% 1y 3.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 89
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€26,227M
2024 · EU pctl 89
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€137M
2023 · EU pctl 48
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,961M
2023 · EU pctl 81
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,187M
2023 · EU pctl 82
GVA — construction (F)
€1,011M
2023 · EU pctl 80
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,754M
2023 · EU pctl 88
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€25,400
2023 · EU pctl 55 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 77
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,700
2024 · EU pctl 82
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€11,196M
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,560M
2023 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€26,730M
2023 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€2,032M
2023 · EU pctl 75
GVA — information & communication (J)
€846M
2023 · EU pctl 82
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,823M
2023 · EU pctl 89
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,948M
2023 · EU pctl 94
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,214M
2025 · EU pctl 88
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€96,491
2025 · EU pctl 77
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€6,137M
2025 · EU pctl 88
Labour market
Employment, total persons
316,700
2024 · EU pctl 87
Self-employed persons
50,000
2023 · EU pctl 87
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,800
2023 · EU pctl 68
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
83.1%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
6.4%
2025 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
2025 · EU pctl 14
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
323,100
2025 · EU pctl 87
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
58,654
2023 · EU pctl 88
Enterprise births
4,953
2023 · EU pctl 84
Enterprise deaths
3,064
2023 · EU pctl 77
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
2023 · EU pctl 95
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
37.3%
2025 · EU pctl 59 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
48.8%
2025 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
22.9%
2025 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
26.3%
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
98.0%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,746,388
2024 · EU pctl 89
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
545 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 30 · 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.
1,955
CURRENT · EU pctl 79
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,431 kt
2025 · EU pctl 68
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
98 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
326
CURRENT · EU pctl 42
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
CURRENT · EU pctl 4
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
CURRENT · EU pctl 99
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
369,339
2025 · EU pctl 82
Population aged 65+
158,360
2025 · EU pctl 90
Population aged under 15
72,450
2025 · EU pctl 78
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 69
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.9%
2025 · EU pctl 79
Crude rate of total population change
-0.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 43
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 55
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 36
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 67
Live births
4,289
2024 · EU pctl 81
Deaths
7,607
2024 · EU pctl 89
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.5%
2025 · EU pctl 71
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
2024 · EU pctl 27
Population density (persons per km²)
922 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 89
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
576,883
2100 · EU pctl 85
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,066 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
249 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
208 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 49
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,385 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 79
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
33 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 25 · 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)
87 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 25
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 45
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 28
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 14
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
14
2024 · EU pctl 39
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 39
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
49
2024 · EU pctl 24
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
72.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 81
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
7.8%
2021 · EU pctl 80
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Netherlands regions