NUTS-3 DE262 · Germany
Population
54,4812025
GDP
€6,178M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
35.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE262 · DEF04
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Schweinfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 51). Runner-up: Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt (46). Contrarian pick: Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Economic base (99) · Industrial base (99)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Demographic outlook (99) · Freight intensity (91)
No red flags
Why you might not pick Schweinfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 13) — Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Schweinfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
51.0
46.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
40.3
58.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.4
55.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
60.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
55.3
58.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
46.0
35.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
29.4
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
15.4% 5y
5.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€113,395
€55,944
Population density
1,523 /km²
1,115 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,643M
€4,078M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€3M
€13M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,960M
€812M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,858M
€684M
GVA — construction (F)
€217M
€217M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€580M
€1,147M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,800
€28,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
102,400 PPS
50,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€115,000
€56,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,277M
€27,063M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,933M
€2,460M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€34,752M
€61,661M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€805M
€981M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,079M
€909M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,313M
€3,698M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€98,854
€86,517
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,155M
€1,003M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
66,040
55,350
Self-employed persons
2,790
3,440
Employment in manufacturing (C)
25,210
5,570
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
30,600
42,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,008
2,603
Enterprise births
140
201
Enterprise deaths
136
256
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.1%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
4.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.3%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.5%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.8%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.4%
21.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.8%
8.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
250,666
204,631
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
665 /1k
593 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,011 kt
4,396 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
351
434
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
644
544
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
35 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
87
51
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
33,760
51,016
Population aged 65+
13,244
18,429
Population aged under 15
7,477
10,364
Median age of population
44.2 yrs
45.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.2%
36.1%
Crude rate of total population change
10.0 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
15.2 /1k
10.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
14.1 /1k
Live births
446
642
Deaths
725
1,123
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.4%
56.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.40
Population density (persons per km²)
1,549 /km²
1,138 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
52,506
120,418
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.5%
20.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.2%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,004 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
208 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
70.5 /100k
111 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
252 /100k
891 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,195 /100k
3,146 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
29 /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)
233 m
26 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
69 days/yr
52 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr