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 · DEA37
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Rhein-Erft-Kreis (Opportunity 72). Runner-up: Steinfurt (68). Contrarian pick: Steinfurt — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 87).
Why you might not pick Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Steinfurt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Steinfurt · Manufacturing → Steinfurt · 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
67.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
53.8
70.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.3
56.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
56.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
77.7
86.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.3
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
49.8
47.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
6.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,268
€40,862
Population density
679 /km²
252 /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
€16,859M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€120M
€389M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,690M
€4,357M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,957M
€3,739M
GVA — construction (F)
€813M
€1,105M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,515M
€3,754M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,900 PPS
36,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,500
€41,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€34,670M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,008M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€125,036M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,929M
€3,584M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,387M
€3,670M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€17,262M
€15,514M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,387
€83,103
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,084M
€3,523M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
204,680
233,830
Self-employed persons
19,100
18,270
Employment in manufacturing (C)
25,920
44,870
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
247,300
244,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,569
14,925
Enterprise births
1,607
1,192
Enterprise deaths
1,611
1,188
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.0%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.3%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.8%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.1%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
947,493
750,986
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
585 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
21,625 kt
21,385 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
3,563
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
483
789
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
29
17
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
301,995
287,665
Population aged 65+
105,888
96,894
Population aged under 15
70,105
67,153
Median age of population
45.6 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.1%
33.7%
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
12.2 /1k
11.2 /1k
Live births
3,965
4,063
Deaths
5,809
5,055
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.3%
57.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
682 /km²
251 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
519,699
467,155
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.7%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.0%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,020 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
43.2 /100k
33.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
336 /100k
183 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,331 /100k
1,131 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /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)
74 m
41 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
43 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr