NUTS-3 DEA27 · Germany
Population
477,9882025
GDP
€20,203M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
703.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA27 · DE123
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Rhein-Erft-Kreis (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Karlsruhe, Landkreis (71). Contrarian pick: Karlsruhe, Landkreis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 82).
Why you might not pick Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Karlsruhe, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Rhein-Erft-Kreis · Manufacturing → Karlsruhe, Landkreis · Office → Rhein-Erft-Kreis · Residential → Rhein-Erft-Kreis.
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
72.3
70.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
53.8
64.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.3
65.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
56.0
65.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.7
63.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.3
68.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
49.8
44.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
4.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,268
€42,763
Population density
679 /km²
420 /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)
€18,454M
€17,822M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€120M
€77M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,690M
€5,232M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,957M
€4,744M
GVA — construction (F)
€813M
€1,092M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,515M
€3,626M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,900 PPS
38,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,500
€42,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€34,670M
€31,701M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,008M
€6,099M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€125,036M
€83,032M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,929M
€5,025M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,387M
€2,769M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€17,262M
€16,923M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,387
€94,969
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,084M
€4,087M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
204,680
217,850
Self-employed persons
19,100
18,660
Employment in manufacturing (C)
25,920
45,770
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
5.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
247,300
231,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,569
17,065
Enterprise births
1,607
1,533
Enterprise deaths
1,611
1,533
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.0%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.3%
9.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
3.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.8%
40.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.1%
45.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
27.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
13.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
947,493
687,070
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
585 /1k
597 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
21,625 kt
15,606 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,308
1,728
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
483
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
29
53
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
301,995
287,828
Population aged 65+
105,888
103,633
Population aged under 15
70,105
64,803
Median age of population
45.6 yrs
46.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.1%
36.0%
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
4.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
12.2 /1k
10.9 /1k
Live births
3,965
3,841
Deaths
5,809
4,975
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.3%
58.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
1.50
Population density (persons per km²)
682 /km²
427 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
519,699
435,223
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.7%
20.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.0%
14.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,020 /100k
980 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
43.2 /100k
23.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
336 /100k
134 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,331 /100k
720 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
26 /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)
74 m
153 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
14 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
51 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr