NUTS-3 DEA12 · Germany
Population
502,2702025
GDP
€20,262M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
232.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA12 · DEA34
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Borken (Opportunity 70). Runner-up: Duisburg, Kreisfreie Stadt (63). Contrarian pick: Duisburg, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 78).
Strengths
Freight intensity (78) · Connectivity (77)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Borken
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 33) — Duisburg, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Borken 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
62.7
70.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.5
75.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.2
53.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
24.7
51.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
76.7
68.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
43.8
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
28.4
53.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.0% 5y
8.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€40,341
€46,928
Population density
2,161 /km²
266 /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)
€18,508M
€16,323M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€7M
€491M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,994M
€4,952M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,224M
€4,311M
GVA — construction (F)
€670M
€1,613M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,490M
€3,125M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,100
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,900 PPS
42,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€40,300
€47,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€40,936M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,526M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€145,544M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,653M
€3,244M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,693M
€2,899M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€17,039M
€15,020M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€92,214
€85,983
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,175M
€3,411M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
231,870
218,800
Self-employed persons
14,560
17,460
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,050
50,220
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.8%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.1%
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.8%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
257,400
206,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,102
15,176
Enterprise births
1,320
1,140
Enterprise deaths
1,374
1,127
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.5%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.9%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.3%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.7%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
484,672
637,728
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
567 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
21,403 kt
13,595 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,553
1,876
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
309
493
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
17
53
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
324,014
243,796
Population aged 65+
102,578
78,461
Population aged under 15
75,678
58,539
Median age of population
43.1 yrs
44.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.7%
32.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.8 /1k
2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.1 /1k
4.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
13.1 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
4,611
3,454
Deaths
6,563
4,203
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.0%
56.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.57
Population density (persons per km²)
2,349 /km²
268 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
537,792
468,842
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.6%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.4 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.5%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,075 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
254 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
93.6 /100k
30.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
813 /100k
229 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,122 /100k
1,063 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
22 /M
35 /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)
28 m
55 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr