NUTS-3 DE146 · Germany
Population
207,4152025
GDP
€13,001M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,407.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE146 · DE11A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Biberach (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Schwäbisch Hall (70). Contrarian pick: Schwäbisch Hall — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Freight intensity (91) · Economic base (90)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Biberach
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Schwäbisch Hall may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Biberach 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
71.8
69.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
54.5
74.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
76.2
78.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
74.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.7
68.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.5
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
56.8
54.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.7% 5y
5.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€62,681
€56,517
Population density
147 /km²
135 /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)
€11,875M
€10,371M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€134M
€206M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€6,322M
€3,397M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€5,920M
€3,022M
GVA — construction (F)
€881M
€1,810M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,170M
€1,331M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
56,300 PPS
50,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€63,100
€56,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,503M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,289M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,964M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,856M
€2,189M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,513M
€1,439M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,261M
€9,842M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€115,317
€103,179
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,324M
€2,512M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
118,880
115,850
Self-employed persons
8,880
8,820
Employment in manufacturing (C)
45,200
35,790
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.3%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
117,700
113,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,315
7,459
Enterprise births
612
563
Enterprise deaths
587
607
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.9%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.9%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.5%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.3%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.9%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.4%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
483,092
576,635
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,924 kt
10,953 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,459
2,163
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
703
1,077
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
41
74
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
132,054
128,155
Population aged 65+
42,551
42,212
Population aged under 15
32,810
30,535
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
44.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.2%
32.9%
Crude rate of total population change
3.1 /1k
1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.1 /1k
3.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.5 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
1,971
1,778
Deaths
1,982
2,111
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.1%
56.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.61
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
147 /km²
135 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
216,860
209,844
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.6%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.5 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.4%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
195 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.7 /100k
30.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
76.9 /100k
122 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
549 /100k
775 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /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)
614 m
432 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
96 days/yr
76 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr