Nord-Pas-de-Calais
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nord-Pas-de-Calais (sometimes also Nord-Pas de Calais) is a region of France. It lies all in the North, bordering Belgium. Its capital is Lille. 4 million people live in the region, 365.000 in the urban area of Lille.
The local economy has had big problems with its structure. It used to be based on the pillars carbon, steel and textiles. The secondary sector (industry) only employs 33.8% (of an 28.9% national average). Unemployment is at 12.9 per cent (9.8% national average). Structural investment in the TGV and the Channel tunnel has shown some improvement though.
