NUTS-3 DEB17 · Germany
Population
217,2282025
GDP
€8,334M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
823.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEB17 · DE143
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zollernalbkreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Mayen-Koblenz (61). Contrarian pick: Mayen-Koblenz — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (98) · Industrial base (95)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zollernalbkreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Mayen-Koblenz may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Mayen-Koblenz · Manufacturing → Zollernalbkreis · Office → Zollernalbkreis · Residential → Zollernalbkreis.
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
61.1
63.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.8
63.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.6
74.6
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.7
71.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.0
70.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.6
41.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.5% 5y
3.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€38,365
€42,364
Population density
264 /km²
212 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 80 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,612M
€7,481M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€58M
€72M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,263M
€2,818M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,951M
€2,671M
GVA — construction (F)
€422M
€490M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,675M
€1,399M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,600
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,300 PPS
37,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€38,500
€42,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,756M
€25,503M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,010M
€7,289M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€33,032M
€52,964M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,524M
€1,477M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,671M
€1,225M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,101M
€7,094M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,279
€89,412
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,820M
€2,094M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
98,200
96,590
Self-employed persons
9,100
8,540
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,140
31,660
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.8%
83.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
115,300
107,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,646
7,720
Enterprise births
600
625
Enterprise deaths
610
602
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
4.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.0%
3.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
6.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.7%
40.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.2%
47.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.0%
9.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
27.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
11.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
819,773
242,121
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
660 /1k
639 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,278
1,227
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,876 kt
6,094 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
588
635
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
52
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
135,407
120,559
Population aged 65+
51,145
45,044
Population aged under 15
30,676
27,723
Median age of population
46.8 yrs
46.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.8%
37.4%
Crude rate of total population change
1.6 /1k
-0.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.2 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
1,745
1,598
Deaths
2,746
2,392
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.4%
60.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
269 /km²
211 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
232,545
245,428
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.2%
16.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
82.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.8%
12.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
242 /100k
195 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
21.2 /100k
14.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
178 /100k
77.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
743 /100k
845 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /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)
302 m
675 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
57 days/yr
86 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr