NUTS-3 DE278 · Germany
Population
129,8462025
GDP
€6,629M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
766.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE278 · DE119
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Hohenlohekreis (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Günzburg (57). Contrarian pick: Günzburg — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Industrial base (97) · Economic base (94)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
#2Günzburg
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Freight intensity (88)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Hohenlohekreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Günzburg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Günzburg · Manufacturing → Hohenlohekreis · Office → Hohenlohekreis · Residential → Hohenlohekreis.
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
56.6
65.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
74.8
59.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.2
78.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
71.0
68.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
36.2
53.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
1.4% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
11.0% 5y
5.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,053
€65,059
Population density
169 /km²
149 /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)
€6,055M
€6,872M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€81M
€124M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,699M
€2,851M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,468M
€2,727M
GVA — construction (F)
€467M
€291M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€966M
€1,911M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,100
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
45,800 PPS
58,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,400
€65,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,600M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,395M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€49,117M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,415M
€956M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,428M
€739M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,656M
€6,521M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€94,860
€103,802
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,508M
€1,664M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
73,140
76,310
Self-employed persons
6,150
4,740
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,250
26,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.6%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.4%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.7%
3.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,000
65,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,229
3,876
Enterprise births
382
338
Enterprise deaths
412
332
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.2%
3.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.1%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.8%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.1%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.4%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.1%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
967,040
378,447
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
636 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
723
962
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,673 kt
6,455 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
557
832
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
40
71
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
83,365
73,970
Population aged 65+
27,169
24,544
Population aged under 15
19,312
17,130
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
44.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.6%
33.2%
Crude rate of total population change
1.2 /1k
2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.8 /1k
3.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.9 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.5 /1k
9.9 /1k
Live births
1,156
1,034
Deaths
1,368
1,142
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.8%
56.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
171 /km²
149 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
134,010
114,735
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.5%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
11.4%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
989 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
211 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.3 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
6.2 /100k
12.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
81.0 /100k
111 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
580 /100k
595 /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)
556 m
337 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
89 days/yr
66 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr