NUTS-3 DEA36 · Germany
Population
621,3052025
GDP
€19,026M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
762.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA36 · DE123
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Karlsruhe, Landkreis (Opportunity 71). Runner-up: Recklinghausen (65). Contrarian pick: Recklinghausen — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 74).
Why you might not pick Karlsruhe, Landkreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 19) — Recklinghausen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Karlsruhe, Landkreis 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
65.1
70.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
59.0
64.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.1
65.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
39.0
65.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.7
63.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
33.0
68.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
37.4
44.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.7% 5y
4.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€30,623
€42,763
Population density
815 /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)
€17,379M
€17,822M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€101M
€77M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,519M
€5,232M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,538M
€4,744M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,009M
€1,092M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,127M
€3,626M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,000
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,200 PPS
38,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€30,600
€42,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,727M
€31,701M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,530M
€6,099M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€59,763M
€83,032M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,375M
€5,025M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,247M
€2,769M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,992M
€16,923M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,524
€94,969
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,631M
€4,087M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
255,090
217,850
Self-employed persons
21,510
18,660
Employment in manufacturing (C)
32,870
45,770
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.1%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.6%
5.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
326,100
231,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
18,502
17,065
Enterprise births
1,579
1,533
Enterprise deaths
1,633
1,533
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
9.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
3.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.1%
40.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.3%
45.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.7%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.6%
27.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.7%
13.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
642,075
687,070
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
590 /1k
597 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,557 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.
2,922
1,728
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
470
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
38
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)
384,175
287,828
Population aged 65+
149,333
103,633
Population aged under 15
87,797
64,803
Median age of population
47.3 yrs
46.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.9%
36.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.5 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.2 /1k
4.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
14.0 /1k
10.9 /1k
Live births
5,206
3,841
Deaths
8,731
4,975
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.7%
58.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.50
Population density (persons per km²)
826 /km²
427 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
587,409
435,223
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.5%
20.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.3%
14.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,053 /100k
980 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
49.3 /100k
23.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
429 /100k
134 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,644 /100k
720 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
35 /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)
50 m
153 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 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)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr