NUTS-3 DE12A · Germany
Population
161,2512025
GDP
€5,736M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
800.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE12A · DEA19
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Calw (Opportunity 60). Runner-up: Solingen, Kreisfreie Stadt (54). Contrarian pick: Solingen, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 65).
Strengths
Connectivity (77) · Resilience (67)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Calw
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 19) — Solingen, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Calw 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
59.6
54.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
68.3
67.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
71.4
48.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
65.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
78.7
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
68.3
43.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.0
36.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
1.4% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.0% 5y
0.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,571
€33,537
Population density
201 /km²
1,804 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,239M
€5,074M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€58M
€3M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,403M
€1,175M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,292M
€996M
GVA — construction (F)
€350M
€185M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,015M
€1,058M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€27,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,800 PPS
29,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,700
€33,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,701M
€40,936M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,099M
€5,526M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€83,032M
€145,544M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,085M
€1,315M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,327M
€1,337M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,975M
€4,671M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,005
€81,288
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,202M
€870M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
69,110
72,110
Self-employed persons
6,530
6,690
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,140
15,150
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.7%
8.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
81,400
83,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,986
6,539
Enterprise births
503
496
Enterprise deaths
519
549
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.5%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.0%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.6%
35.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
9.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.5%
22.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
8.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
929,326
96,374
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
597 /1k
567 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,806 kt
1,616 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,259
689
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
781
416
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
24
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
101,026
105,406
Population aged 65+
36,172
36,963
Population aged under 15
24,053
23,257
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
46.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.8%
35.1%
Crude rate of total population change
0.4 /1k
-2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.1 /1k
2.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
11.0 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
1,499
1,298
Deaths
1,772
2,139
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.6%
57.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.65
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
202 /km²
1,843 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
147,009
155,390
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.5%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
16.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
980 /100k
1,075 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
254 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
15.5 /100k
69.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
91.8 /100k
288 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
514 /100k
1,220 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
22 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
613 m
188 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
83 days/yr
43 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr