NUTS-3 DE134 · Germany
Population
444,8582025
GDP
€21,143M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,861.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE134 · DEA37
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Steinfurt (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Ortenaukreis (67). Contrarian pick: Ortenaukreis — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 89).
Why you might not pick Steinfurt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 33) — Ortenaukreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Steinfurt · Manufacturing → Ortenaukreis · Office → Ortenaukreis · Residential → Ortenaukreis.
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
67.3
67.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
68.8
70.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
70.3
56.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.3
86.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
55.3
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.0
47.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.4% 5y
6.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€47,528
€40,862
Population density
239 /km²
252 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 81 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€19,312M
€16,859M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€160M
€389M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,851M
€4,357M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€5,424M
€3,739M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,111M
€1,105M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,063M
€3,754M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,600 PPS
36,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,800
€41,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€24,625M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,717M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€57,940M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,991M
€3,584M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,137M
€3,670M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€18,313M
€15,514M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,822
€83,103
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,981M
€3,523M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
251,690
233,830
Self-employed persons
20,230
18,270
Employment in manufacturing (C)
63,430
44,870
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.3%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.0%
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
243,800
244,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,599
14,925
Enterprise births
1,413
1,192
Enterprise deaths
1,390
1,188
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.0%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.6%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.8%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.0%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,246,684
750,986
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
590 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,607
3,563
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,569 kt
21,385 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
586
789
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
30
17
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)
279,554
287,665
Population aged 65+
100,115
96,894
Population aged under 15
65,189
67,153
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.8%
33.7%
Crude rate of total population change
3.1 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.5 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
11.2 /1k
11.2 /1k
Live births
3,882
4,063
Deaths
4,964
5,055
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.1%
57.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
241 /km²
251 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
452,747
467,155
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.4%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.1%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
950 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.4 /100k
33.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
211 /100k
183 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,056 /100k
1,131 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
35 /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)
212 m
41 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
57 days/yr
43 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr