NUTS-3 CH011 · Switzerland
Population
855,1062025
GDP
€66,623M2022
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,215.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
CH011 · CH040
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zürich (Opportunity 76). Runner-up: Vaud (71). Contrarian pick: Vaud — leads the set on Digital readiness (EU pctl 96).
Why you might not pick Zürich
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 34) — Vaud may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zürich leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
70.8
76.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
77.5
81.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
63.9
68.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
64.3
80.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
88.8
98.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.4
44.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.7% 5y
2.0% 5y
Population
1.2% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y
0.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€77,912
€104,508
Population density
266 /km²
938 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 66 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€62,581M
€159,033M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€495M
€335M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€10,678M
€19,591M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€12,254M
€36,319M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€7,084M
€13,978M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€61,642M
€156,646M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€178,589
€189,500
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€19,655M
€49,948M
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.2%
86.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
8.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.7%
4.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
457,400
973,300
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.7%
9.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
46.4%
56.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
51.5%
62.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
27.8%
28.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
29.2%
36.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
12.0%
17.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.3%
99.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,077,402
7,350,719
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
507 /1k
481 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
23,986 kt
35,268 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
4,742
6,604
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
555
408
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
36 km/1000km²
99 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
47
8
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
575,911
1,095,380
Population aged 65+
144,759
282,720
Population aged under 15
134,436
241,920
Median age of population
40.5 yrs
41.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.1%
25.8%
Crude rate of total population change
10.9 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.0 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
7.1 /1k
7.3 /1k
Live births
7,612
14,949
Deaths
5,996
11,813
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
48.5%
47.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.27
1.24
Population density (persons per km²)
302 /km²
975 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,313,545
2,475,164
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.5%
14.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.6 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.0%
13.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
422 /100k
369 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
719 /100k
799 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
180 /100k
184 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
38.2 /100k
33.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
770 /100k
498 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,080 /100k
1,915 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
22 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
2.03
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.76
1.76
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.09
2.09
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
1.03
1.03
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
504 m
484 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
84 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
12 days/yr
9 days/yr