NUTS-3 DEA57 · Germany
Population
260,8432025
GDP
€11,716M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,973.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA57 · DEA5B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Soest (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Hochsauerlandkreis (62). Contrarian pick: Hochsauerlandkreis — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 97).
Why you might not pick Soest
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 28) — Hochsauerlandkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Soest 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
61.8
63.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
54.3
49.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.8
55.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
70.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.0
81.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.2
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.0% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.1% 5y
4.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€44,916
€44,781
Population density
132 /km²
226 /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)
€10,702M
€12,283M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€214M
€244M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,433M
€4,294M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,957M
€3,869M
GVA — construction (F)
€642M
€652M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,746M
€2,112M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,000 PPS
39,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,900
€44,800
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)
€2,194M
€2,352M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,472M
€2,630M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,864M
€11,322M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€81,335
€90,761
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,294M
€2,633M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
152,150
156,510
Self-employed persons
12,520
12,940
Employment in manufacturing (C)
38,090
36,400
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)
126,200
146,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,352
10,983
Enterprise births
712
878
Enterprise deaths
761
845
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
3.4%
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)
3,569,719
765,766
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,382 kt
16,138 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,484
2,384
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
952
794
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
32
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
163,414
189,157
Population aged 65+
62,310
69,469
Population aged under 15
35,119
41,671
Median age of population
48.0 yrs
47.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.1%
36.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
-0.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
4.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
12.8 /1k
Live births
2,097
2,387
Deaths
3,322
3,855
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.6%
58.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.46
Population density (persons per km²)
134 /km²
228 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
247,055
333,562
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
0.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.3 /100k
41.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
184 /100k
263 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
930 /100k
1,283 /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)
401 m
125 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
71 days/yr
43 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
3 days/yr