NUTS-3 DEA56 · Germany
Population
314,1672025
GDP
€11,342M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
414.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA56 · DEA57
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Hochsauerlandkreis (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (59). Contrarian pick: Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 81).
Why you might not pick Hochsauerlandkreis
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 28) — Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Hochsauerlandkreis 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
59.2
61.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.3
54.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.4
55.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
63.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
81.3
80.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
24.2
39.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
0.0% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.3% 5y
10.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,101
€44,916
Population density
758 /km²
132 /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)
€10,360M
€10,702M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€28M
€214M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,021M
€3,433M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,686M
€2,957M
GVA — construction (F)
€403M
€642M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,881M
€1,746M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,100 PPS
40,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,000
€44,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,556M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,134M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€86,336M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,374M
€2,194M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,652M
€2,472M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,549M
€9,864M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€80,603
€81,335
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,221M
€2,294M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,630
152,150
Self-employed persons
13,050
12,520
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,400
38,090
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
4.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
149,400
126,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,726
10,352
Enterprise births
956
712
Enterprise deaths
943
761
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.3%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.7%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.2%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
292,028
3,569,719
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,711 kt
18,382 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,982
2,484
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
631
952
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
30
42
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)
193,505
163,414
Population aged 65+
78,569
62,310
Population aged under 15
42,093
35,119
Median age of population
48.6 yrs
48.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.6%
38.1%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.9 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
14.1 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
2,458
2,097
Deaths
4,427
3,322
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.4%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.40
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
773 /km²
134 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
290,415
247,055
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.6%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.1 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.6%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,106 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
256 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
41.9 /100k
28.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
372 /100k
184 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,135 /100k
930 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
23 /M
23 /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)
212 m
401 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
45 days/yr
71 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr