NUTS-3 CH040 · Switzerland
Population
1,620,0202025
GDP
€169,304M2022
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,727.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
CH040 · CH055
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: St. Gallen (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Zürich (76). Contrarian pick: Zürich — leads the set on Talent & skills (EU pctl 98).
Why you might not pick St. Gallen
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 54) — Zürich may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → St. Gallen · Manufacturing → St. Gallen · Office → Zürich · Residential → Zürich.
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
76.0
77.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
81.5
81.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
68.0
70.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.3
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
98.0
71.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.0
61.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.0% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
5.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€104,508
€85,128
Population density
938 /km²
265 /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)
€159,033M
€43,183M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€335M
€308M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€19,591M
€13,085M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€36,319M
€7,962M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€13,978M
€2,888M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€156,646M
€42,535M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€189,500
€150,201
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€49,948M
€13,563M
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.2%
86.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.2%
5.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.4%
3.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
973,300
316,000
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.0%
4.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
56.6%
40.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
62.0%
44.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
28.5%
24.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
36.2%
23.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
17.4%
10.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
99.2%
100.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
7,350,719
1,657,844
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
481 /1k
589 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
35,268 kt
16,047 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
6,604
3,007
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
408
557
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
99 km/1000km²
23 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
8
55
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
1,095,380
351,708
Population aged 65+
282,720
105,372
Population aged under 15
241,920
82,956
Median age of population
41.4 yrs
42.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.8%
30.0%
Crude rate of total population change
9.0 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.1 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
7.3 /1k
8.2 /1k
Live births
14,949
4,918
Deaths
11,813
4,395
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.9%
53.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.24
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
975 /km²
276 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
2,475,164
597,047
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.7%
16.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.2 yrs
83.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.2%
13.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
369 /100k
487 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
799 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
184 /100k
192 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
33.9 /100k
18.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
498 /100k
355 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,915 /100k
1,474 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
22 /M
34 /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)
484 m
1,163 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
84 days/yr
149 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
9 days/yr
24 days/yr