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 · DEA24
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt (55). Contrarian pick: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 91).
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 Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 24) — 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 → Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Leverkusen, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
54.8
63.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.0
42.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.6
59.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
25.3
47.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
83.0
80.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
30.6
41.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.6% 5y
3.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,448
€54,643
Population density
1,187 /km²
2,150 /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
€8,414M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
€5M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,552M
€3,329M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,311M
€2,643M
GVA — construction (F)
€232M
€267M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,504M
€1,426M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,200 PPS
49,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,500
€55,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,556M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,134M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€86,336M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,488M
€1,728M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,081M
€1,660M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,323M
€7,871M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,591
€114,017
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,471M
€1,406M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
93,780
85,440
Self-employed persons
6,590
6,120
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,650
18,340
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.6%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
93,000
88,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,746
5,653
Enterprise births
521
597
Enterprise deaths
510
510
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.3%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.7%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.2%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
201,981
206,620
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
585 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,391 kt
2,985 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
835
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
598
495
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
21
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
120,460
108,109
Population aged 65+
41,025
36,445
Population aged under 15
28,899
24,027
Median age of population
44.1 yrs
44.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
33.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
4.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.1 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
13.7 /1k
11.5 /1k
Live births
1,767
1,443
Deaths
2,608
1,928
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.0%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
1,198 /km²
2,213 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
205,915
166,847
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.6%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.1 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.6%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,106 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
256 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
1.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
92.8 /100k
59.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
472 /100k
457 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,982 /100k
1,638 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
23 /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)
140 m
61 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
39 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr