NUTS-3 DEA1C · Germany
Population
490,9102025
GDP
€27,193M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
404.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA1C · DEA36
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Mettmann (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Recklinghausen (65). Contrarian pick: Recklinghausen — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 60).
Why you might not pick Mettmann
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 24) — Recklinghausen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Recklinghausen · Manufacturing → Mettmann · Office → Mettmann · Residential → Mettmann.
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
71.8
65.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
59.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.2
47.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
50.0
39.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.3
73.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
43.8
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.8
37.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.7% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€55,393
€30,623
Population density
1,212 /km²
815 /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)
€24,838M
€17,379M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€25M
€101M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,969M
€3,519M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,632M
€2,538M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,344M
€1,009M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€8,011M
€3,127M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,100
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
49,500 PPS
27,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€55,600
€30,600
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)
€6,869M
€4,375M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,620M
€5,247M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€22,867M
€15,992M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€109,705
€78,524
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,261M
€3,631M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
261,580
255,090
Self-employed persons
22,240
21,510
Employment in manufacturing (C)
47,380
32,870
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)
239,600
326,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
21,212
18,502
Enterprise births
1,855
1,579
Enterprise deaths
1,894
1,633
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
4.2%
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)
825,599
642,075
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
567 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,338 kt
18,557 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,250
2,922
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
458
470
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
15
38
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
301,646
384,175
Population aged 65+
120,560
149,333
Population aged under 15
68,704
87,797
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
47.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.0%
38.9%
Crude rate of total population change
2.3 /1k
-2.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
3.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
14.0 /1k
Live births
3,754
5,206
Deaths
6,523
8,731
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.7%
61.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.42
1.53
Population density (persons per km²)
1,217 /km²
826 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
437,531
587,409
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
0.0 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
52.7 /100k
49.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
403 /100k
429 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,217 /100k
1,644 /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)
121 m
50 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr