NUTS-3 AT223 · Austria
Population
156,1482025
GDP
€7,564M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,204.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
AT223 · DEC05
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saarpfalz-Kreis (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Östliche Obersteiermark (42). Contrarian pick: Östliche Obersteiermark — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Industrial base (95) · Freight intensity (90)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Saarpfalz-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 18) — Östliche Obersteiermark may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Saarpfalz-Kreis · Manufacturing → Östliche Obersteiermark · Office → Saarpfalz-Kreis · Residential → Saarpfalz-Kreis.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
42.4
49.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.5
45.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.6
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
32.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
31.3
62.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
66.5
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
23.8
25.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.2% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.6% 5y
7.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,442
€47,562
Population density
49 /km²
342 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,801M
€6,260M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€157M
€12M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,729M
€2,113M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,432M
€2,003M
GVA — construction (F)
€450M
€323M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,094M
€1,209M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,700
€25,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,500 PPS
42,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,000
€47,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€15,264M
€8,110M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,445M
€1,529M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€31,076M
€23,975M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,099M
€1,091M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,273M
€1,513M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,650M
€5,691M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€110,928
€83,793
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,930M
€1,332M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
74,200
85,990
Self-employed persons
7,400
5,770
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,100
21,710
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.7%
77.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.3%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.0%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,700
71,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,681
5,323
Enterprise births
479
420
Enterprise deaths
425
462
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.2%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.3%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.9%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.1%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.9%
28.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.8%
29.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.1%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.4%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.3%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
709,455
221,283
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
626 /1k
646 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,446 kt
3,849 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
4
1,198
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
19 km/1000km²
94 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
3
831
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
63
76
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
95,740
87,425
Population aged 65+
41,560
38,740
Population aged under 15
18,848
17,927
Median age of population
49.9 yrs
49.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.4%
44.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-7.1 /1k
-2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.7 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
13.0 /1k
14.8 /1k
Live births
1,035
1,055
Deaths
2,041
2,133
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.1%
64.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.29
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
49 /km²
345 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
118,359
125,352
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.9%
22.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.4 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.6%
15.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
723 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
954 /100k
1,123 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
243 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
12.7 /100k
22.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
348 /100k
207 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
731 /100k
863 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
24 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.74
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.40
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.64
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.37
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.60
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.156/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.049/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
693 m
383 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
104 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
4 days/yr