NUTS-3 DEA55 · Germany
Population
155,8512025
GDP
€5,227M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
50.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA55 · DE11C
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Heidenheim (Opportunity 58). Runner-up: Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt (57). Contrarian pick: Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 74).
Strengths
Industrial base (94) · Freight intensity (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Heidenheim
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Heidenheim 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
57.1
57.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
39.5
61.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.8
72.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
74.3
62.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.6
38.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.8% 5y
2.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,542
€43,969
Population density
3,070 /km²
215 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 81 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,775M
€5,431M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1M
€73M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,052M
€2,131M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€480M
€1,929M
GVA — construction (F)
€294M
€198M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€988M
€922M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,900 PPS
39,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,500
€44,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,556M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,134M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€86,336M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€912M
€1,157M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,528M
€951M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,401M
€5,154M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,536
€91,480
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,024M
€1,315M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
66,100
68,430
Self-employed persons
4,760
5,160
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,820
21,110
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
76,400
75,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,984
4,201
Enterprise births
425
366
Enterprise deaths
412
362
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.1%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.3%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.7%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.2%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
61,680
241,943
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
636 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
601
744
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,139 kt
7,927 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
386
550
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
28
65
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
98,900
84,869
Population aged 65+
34,436
30,885
Population aged under 15
22,515
19,481
Median age of population
44.9 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.8%
36.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.9 /1k
0.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.0 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.9 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude death rate
14.9 /1k
11.6 /1k
Live births
1,392
1,097
Deaths
2,324
1,562
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.6%
59.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.43
Population density (persons per km²)
3,059 /km²
216 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
152,420
135,516
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.6%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.1 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.6%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,106 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
256 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
78.1 /100k
29.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
592 /100k
104 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,017 /100k
885 /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)
66 m
565 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
86 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr