NUTS-3 DEA53 · Germany
Population
190,3842025
GDP
€7,510M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
160.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA53 · DE279
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Neu-Ulm (Opportunity 58). Runner-up: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt (55). Contrarian pick: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 91).
#1Neu-Ulm
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Industrial base (89)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 23% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Strengths
Freight intensity (91) · Connectivity (83)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Neu-Ulm
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Flood: 23% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Neu-Ulm · Office → Neu-Ulm · Residential → Neu-Ulm.
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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
54.8
57.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.0
65.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.6
64.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
25.3
39.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
83.0
72.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
30.6
35.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.6% 5y
6.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,448
€42,406
Population density
1,187 /km²
356 /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)
€6,860M
€7,111M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
€53M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,552M
€2,296M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,311M
€2,158M
GVA — construction (F)
€232M
€349M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,504M
€1,503M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,200 PPS
38,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,500
€42,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,556M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,134M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€86,336M
€49,117M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,488M
€1,668M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,081M
€1,241M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,323M
€6,643M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,591
€91,561
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,471M
€1,771M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
93,780
88,990
Self-employed persons
6,590
7,440
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,650
24,060
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.6%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
93,000
105,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,746
6,378
Enterprise births
521
499
Enterprise deaths
510
556
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.3%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.7%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.2%
9.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
201,981
490,599
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,391 kt
6,877 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,139
992
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
598
540
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
21
34
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)
120,460
117,696
Population aged 65+
41,025
38,805
Population aged under 15
28,899
27,094
Median age of population
44.1 yrs
43.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
33.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
5.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.1 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
13.7 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
1,767
1,655
Deaths
2,608
1,917
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.0%
56.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
1,198 /km²
358 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
205,915
170,921
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.6%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.1 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.6%
11.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,106 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
256 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
92.8 /100k
30.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
472 /100k
132 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,982 /100k
780 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
23 /M
39 /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)
140 m
541 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
91 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr