NUTS-3 DE404 · Germany
Population
184,7542025
GDP
€9,550M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
187 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE404 · DE146
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Biberach (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt (57).
Strengths
Economic base (85) · Labour market (70)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Biberach
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Potsdam, Kreisfreie Stadt 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
56.5
71.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.5
54.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.3
76.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
40.7
74.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.0
75.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
27.0
70.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
51.8
56.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
1.9% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
4.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,693
€62,681
Population density
988 /km²
147 /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)
€8,723M
€11,875M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
€134M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€437M
€6,322M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€100M
€5,920M
GVA — construction (F)
€240M
€881M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,516M
€1,170M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,000
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
46,300 PPS
56,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€52,000
€63,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€23,042M
€25,503M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,607M
€7,289M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€47,281M
€52,964M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,626M
€1,856M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,896M
€1,513M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,660M
€11,261M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,288
€115,317
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,338M
€3,324M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
118,200
118,880
Self-employed persons
8,800
8,880
Employment in manufacturing (C)
2,390
45,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.0%
83.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.3%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
99,200
117,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,943
7,315
Enterprise births
648
612
Enterprise deaths
646
587
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
3.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.1%
6.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.2%
40.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.8%
47.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.4%
9.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.9%
27.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.6%
11.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,318,350
483,092
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
584 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,477 kt
10,924 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
735
1,459
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
398
703
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
28 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
41
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
120,046
132,054
Population aged 65+
37,970
42,551
Population aged under 15
26,738
32,810
Median age of population
42.8 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.6%
32.2%
Crude rate of total population change
2.5 /1k
3.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.9 /1k
3.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
9.5 /1k
Crude death rate
10.1 /1k
9.6 /1k
Live births
1,427
1,971
Deaths
1,859
1,982
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.9%
57.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.14
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
1,079 /km²
147 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
172,216
216,860
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.6%
16.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.0 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.7%
12.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,113 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
245 /100k
195 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
48.8 /100k
9.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
370 /100k
76.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,266 /100k
549 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
45 /M
39 /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)
43 m
614 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
96 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr