NUTS-3 DE144 · Germany
Population
129,8822025
GDP
€12,947M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
120.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE144 · DEB34
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ulm, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 69). Runner-up: Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Kreisfreie Stadt (63). Contrarian pick: Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Labour market (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (99) · Economic base (97)
No red flags
Why you might not pick Ulm, Stadtkreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ulm, Stadtkreis 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
69.2
62.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.3
43.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
70.1
56.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
54.7
21.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
71.0
63.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.5
57.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
52.6
32.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
1.4% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.2% 5y
3.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€99,683
€79,373
Population density
1,075 /km²
2,327 /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)
€11,826M
€12,849M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€23M
€9M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,280M
€7,006M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,026M
€6,641M
GVA — construction (F)
€304M
€379M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,215M
€1,593M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€27,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
89,800 PPS
71,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€100,800
€80,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,503M
€20,699M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,289M
€4,472M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,964M
€49,098M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,380M
€1,975M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,624M
€1,886M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,214M
€11,952M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€102,894
€116,972
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,310M
€3,023M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
132,690
125,950
Self-employed persons
7,000
5,900
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,210
45,260
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.3%
81.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.8%
4.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
77,600
99,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,183
4,724
Enterprise births
464
515
Enterprise deaths
463
510
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
4.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.9%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.9%
6.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.5%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.3%
36.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
41.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.9%
10.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
25.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.4%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
853,057
316,503
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
621 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,425 kt
7,488 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
829
845
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
638
477
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
61
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
87,104
115,946
Population aged 65+
25,145
33,627
Population aged under 15
17,633
27,649
Median age of population
40.3 yrs
41.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.9%
29.0%
Crude rate of total population change
6.8 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.4 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
10.1 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
1,171
1,789
Deaths
1,241
1,903
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
49.1%
52.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.25
1.60
Population density (persons per km²)
1,088 /km²
2,354 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
120,233
181,361
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.6%
23.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.5 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.4%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
195 /100k
231 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
97.7 /100k
69.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
294 /100k
351 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,373 /100k
1,813 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
25 /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)
575 m
95 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
22 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
89 days/yr
49 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr