NUTS-3 DE716 · Germany
Population
302,0212025
GDP
€10,141M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
652.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE716 · DE71E
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Wetteraukreis (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Darmstadt-Dieburg (64). Contrarian pick: Darmstadt-Dieburg — leads the set on Resilience (EU pctl 65).
Strengths
Connectivity (72) · Quality of life (65)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Connectivity (70) · Resilience (65)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Wetteraukreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Darmstadt-Dieburg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Wetteraukreis · Manufacturing → Wetteraukreis · Office → Darmstadt-Dieburg · Residential → Darmstadt-Dieburg.
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
64.4
65.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.8
64.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.5
65.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
70.3
71.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.2
48.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,576
€36,289
Population density
463 /km²
284 /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)
€9,263M
€10,328M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€77M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,693M
€1,957M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,523M
€1,547M
GVA — construction (F)
€638M
€734M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,561M
€2,608M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,100
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,000 PPS
32,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,600
€36,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,287M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,586M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€137,102M
€137,102M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,647M
€2,678M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,646M
€2,289M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,028M
€10,067M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€95,338
€93,876
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,974M
€2,201M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
113,200
128,200
Self-employed persons
11,880
13,810
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,250
16,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.6%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.3%
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
154,200
159,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,275
12,503
Enterprise births
1,015
1,197
Enterprise deaths
1,102
1,232
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.5%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.9%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.7%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.5%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.8%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
506,968
508,372
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
612 /1k
612 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,120
1,813
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,317 kt
8,080 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
371
582
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
30
43
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)
190,795
197,001
Population aged 65+
67,534
70,282
Population aged under 15
43,692
44,310
Median age of population
46.4 yrs
46.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.4%
35.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.8 /1k
2.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.2 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
12.1 /1k
Live births
2,357
2,435
Deaths
3,260
3,774
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.3%
58.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.42
1.42
Population density (persons per km²)
459 /km²
283 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
292,433
285,690
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.1%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.4%
16.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
974 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.2 /100k
28.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
152 /100k
261 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
553 /100k
761 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /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)
161 m
139 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
58 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr