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 · CH061
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: St. Gallen (Opportunity 77). Runner-up: Luzern (76). Contrarian pick: Luzern — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 99).
Why you might not pick St. Gallen
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 54) — Luzern may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
St. Gallen 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
77.3
76.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
81.0
81.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
70.0
74.6
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.3
65.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
71.5
81.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
61.0
54.0
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
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€85,128
€75,127
Population density
265 /km²
292 /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
€30,906M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€308M
€386M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€13,085M
€7,946M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€7,962M
€6,185M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,888M
€2,197M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€42,535M
€30,442M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€150,201
€160,407
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€13,563M
€9,707M
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.0%
86.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.4%
4.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.3%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
316,000
257,800
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%
49.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.4%
24.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.5%
26.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
11.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
100.0%
97.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,657,844
3,161,666
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
589 /1k
607 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,047 kt
16,582 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
2,145
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
557
490
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
44 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
55
55
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
351,708
288,170
Population aged 65+
105,372
83,172
Population aged under 15
82,956
66,602
Median age of population
42.3 yrs
42.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.0%
28.9%
Crude rate of total population change
9.2 /1k
11.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.2 /1k
10.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
8.2 /1k
7.5 /1k
Live births
4,918
4,069
Deaths
4,395
3,267
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.5%
52.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
1.36
Population density (persons per km²)
276 /km²
305 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
597,047
530,484
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.2%
13.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
84.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.4%
10.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
487 /100k
313 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
861 /100k
824 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
192 /100k
186 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
0.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
18.5 /100k
10.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
355 /100k
496 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,474 /100k
1,788 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
24 /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
561 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
149 days/yr
78 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
24 days/yr
17 days/yr