NUTS-3 CH055 · Switzerland
Population
540,0362025
GDP
€45,972M2022
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,038.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
CH055 · CH011
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: St. Gallen (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Vaud (71). Contrarian pick: Vaud — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 92).
Why you might not pick St. Gallen
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 54) — Vaud 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 → Vaud · Residential → St. Gallen.
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
77.3
70.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
81.0
77.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
70.0
63.9
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.3
64.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
71.5
88.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
61.0
52.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.0% 5y
2.7% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
1.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.2% 5y
1.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€85,128
€77,912
Population density
265 /km²
266 /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)
€43,183M
€62,581M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€308M
€495M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€13,085M
€10,678M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€7,962M
€12,254M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,888M
€7,084M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€42,535M
€61,642M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€150,201
€178,589
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€13,563M
€19,655M
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.0%
79.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.4%
14.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.3%
7.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
316,000
457,400
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
5.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.8%
46.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.4%
51.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.4%
27.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.5%
29.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
12.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
100.0%
99.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,657,844
4,077,402
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
589 /1k
507 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,047 kt
23,986 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,007
4,742
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
557
555
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
55
47
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
351,708
575,911
Population aged 65+
105,372
144,759
Population aged under 15
82,956
134,436
Median age of population
42.3 yrs
40.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.0%
25.1%
Crude rate of total population change
9.2 /1k
10.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.2 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.2 /1k
7.1 /1k
Live births
4,918
7,612
Deaths
4,395
5,996
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.5%
48.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
1.27
Population density (persons per km²)
276 /km²
302 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
597,047
1,313,545
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.2%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
84.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.4%
19.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
487 /100k
422 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
861 /100k
719 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
192 /100k
180 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
18.5 /100k
38.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
355 /100k
770 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,474 /100k
2,080 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
29 /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)
1,163 m
504 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
149 days/yr
54 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
24 days/yr
12 days/yr