NUTS-3 DE136 · Germany
Population
214,0652025
GDP
€10,000M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,026.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE136 · DEA26
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Düren (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis (62). Contrarian pick: Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 92).
#1Düren
Strengths
Connectivity (79) · Resilience (71)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Düren
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 17) — Schwarzwald-Baar-Kreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Düren 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
62.1
67.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.0
71.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
75.0
62.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
88.3
61.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
70.7
79.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
55.3
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
28.4
54.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.3% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€46,715
€35,068
Population density
209 /km²
297 /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)
€9,134M
€8,946M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€60M
€135M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,183M
€2,016M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,012M
€1,575M
GVA — construction (F)
€523M
€504M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,428M
€1,217M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
31,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,900
€35,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€24,625M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,717M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€57,940M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,942M
€2,832M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,998M
€2,243M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,661M
€8,368M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,644
€82,830
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,356M
€1,495M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
119,280
125,040
Self-employed persons
9,750
10,340
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,700
18,080
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.3%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.0%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
115,500
144,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
8,151
9,185
Enterprise births
632
745
Enterprise deaths
636
841
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.0%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.6%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.8%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.0%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
942,903
570,230
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
585 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,317 kt
9,360 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,559
2,074
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
728
743
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
59
44
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
132,477
175,988
Population aged 65+
50,005
63,045
Population aged under 15
31,583
40,252
Median age of population
45.3 yrs
45.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.7%
35.8%
Crude rate of total population change
0.7 /1k
3.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.6 /1k
6.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
12.1 /1k
12.5 /1k
Live births
1,955
2,377
Deaths
2,583
3,474
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.6%
58.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.59
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
209 /km²
299 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
220,372
228,922
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.4%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.1%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
950 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
17.3 /100k
59.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
148 /100k
314 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
832 /100k
1,348 /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)
756 m
125 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
104 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr