NUTS-3 DE132 · Germany
Population
272,5582025
GDP
€9,579M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,377.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE132 · DE114
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Göppingen (61). Contrarian pick: Göppingen — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 84).
Strengths
Labour market (85) · Industrial base (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 19) — Göppingen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald · Manufacturing → Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald · Office → Göppingen · Residential → Göppingen.
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
64.6
60.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
80.0
61.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
75.4
70.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
95.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.3
71.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
55.3
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
40.8
26.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.1% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,144
€37,560
Population density
198 /km²
405 /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)
€8,749M
€8,879M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€138M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,370M
€2,649M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,239M
€2,449M
GVA — construction (F)
€671M
€763M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,836M
€1,638M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,500 PPS
33,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,400
€37,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€24,625M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,717M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€57,940M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,027M
€2,002M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,707M
€1,765M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,296M
€8,426M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,847
€86,167
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,257M
€2,150M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
122,240
118,770
Self-employed persons
13,480
10,710
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,030
29,840
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.3%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.0%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
146,800
143,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,223
9,788
Enterprise births
861
841
Enterprise deaths
977
888
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.0%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.6%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.8%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.0%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,883,944
493,394
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,748 kt
5,729 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,867
1,210
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
685
468
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
58
38
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
168,319
161,900
Population aged 65+
63,950
58,779
Population aged under 15
40,289
38,130
Median age of population
46.2 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.0%
36.3%
Crude rate of total population change
2.1 /1k
-1.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.3 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
2,347
2,231
Deaths
2,941
3,107
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.9%
59.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
199 /km²
404 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
259,712
264,734
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.4%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.1%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
950 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
11.4 /100k
23.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
150 /100k
186 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
686 /100k
755 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
27 /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)
1,054 m
556 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
112 days/yr
77 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
6 days/yr