NUTS-3 DEC01 · Germany
Population
333,1492025
GDP
€17,114M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
410 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC01 · DE11D
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ostalbkreis (Opportunity 71). Runner-up: Regionalverband Saarbrücken (56).
Strengths
Industrial base (98) · Demographic outlook (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ostalbkreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Regionalverband Saarbrücken may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ostalbkreis 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
56.0
71.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
48.5
47.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
50.8
76.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
57.0
72.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
59.0
67.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
23.2
45.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
17.3% 5y
3.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,370
€56,326
Population density
813 /km²
210 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,632M
€16,331M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€135M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,467M
€7,348M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,694M
€6,881M
GVA — construction (F)
€404M
€987M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,276M
€2,078M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
46,000 PPS
50,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,600
€56,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,886M
€3,125M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,581M
€2,658M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€14,211M
€15,497M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,673
€107,060
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,327M
€3,955M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
210,030
175,820
Self-employed persons
13,580
13,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
27,480
54,480
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
170,200
177,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,395
11,390
Enterprise births
1,148
932
Enterprise deaths
1,247
1,036
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
782,495
709,167
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,796 kt
11,358 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,042
2,408
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
613
759
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
94 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
69
68
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
209,500
200,765
Population aged 65+
80,050
70,435
Population aged under 15
43,599
46,227
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
45.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.2%
35.1%
Crude rate of total population change
2.2 /1k
0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.3 /1k
3.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
14.3 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
2,738
2,723
Deaths
4,766
3,586
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.0%
58.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
810 /km²
210 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
318,109
368,773
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
64.7 /100k
23.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
412 /100k
107 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,987 /100k
769 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /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)
238 m
426 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
6 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
76 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr