NUTS-3 DEA1E · Germany
Population
297,8572025
GDP
€10,468M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
562 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA1E · DE715
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Bergstraße (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Viersen (61). Contrarian pick: Viersen — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 74).
Strengths
Connectivity (71) · Quality of life (68)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
#2Viersen
Strengths
Connectivity (74) · Resilience (66)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Bergstraße
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Viersen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Viersen · Manufacturing → Bergstraße · Office → Bergstraße · Residential → Bergstraße.
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
61.4
65.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
65.8
58.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
46.7
68.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
50.3
67.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
74.3
70.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
43.8
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.0
43.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
1.4% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.9% 5y
5.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,144
€35,604
Population density
530 /km²
383 /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)
€9,561M
€8,916M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€230M
€60M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,968M
€2,284M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,689M
€1,916M
GVA — construction (F)
€640M
€662M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,382M
€1,870M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,100
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,500 PPS
31,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,300
€35,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€40,936M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,526M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€145,544M
€137,102M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,149M
€2,247M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,193M
€1,794M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,803M
€8,691M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€79,498
€92,522
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,640M
€1,900M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
138,950
112,290
Self-employed persons
13,570
12,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,790
17,740
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.8%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.1%
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.8%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
148,100
137,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,930
11,313
Enterprise births
1,020
963
Enterprise deaths
1,132
1,017
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.9%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.3%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.7%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
349,353
596,852
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
567 /1k
612 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,112 kt
6,885 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,181
1,382
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
397
504
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
31
45
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
186,425
170,496
Population aged 65+
71,125
64,975
Population aged under 15
40,307
38,698
Median age of population
48.4 yrs
47.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.2%
38.1%
Crude rate of total population change
1.2 /1k
-1.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.1 /1k
3.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
12.1 /1k
Live births
2,181
2,169
Deaths
3,940
3,333
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
60.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
533 /km²
386 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
275,034
254,274
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.6%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.4 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.5%
16.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,075 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
254 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.3 /100k
28.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
367 /100k
158 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,198 /100k
571 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
22 /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)
56 m
112 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
17 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
36 days/yr
48 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr