NUTS-3 DEC02 · Germany
Population
108,7792025
GDP
€3,395M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
560.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC02 · DE246
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Merzig-Wadern (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Bayreuth, Landkreis (42). Contrarian pick: Bayreuth, Landkreis — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 88).
Strengths
Connectivity (76) · Resilience (65)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Merzig-Wadern
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 12) — Bayreuth, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Merzig-Wadern 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
44.8
42.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
65.3
65.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
49.5
61.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.7
68.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
31.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.6
33.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.8% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.4% 5y
2.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,211
€28,804
Population density
194 /km²
81 /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)
€3,101M
€2,716M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€107M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€732M
€715M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€490M
€579M
GVA — construction (F)
€189M
€182M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€695M
€481M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,700 PPS
25,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,000
€28,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€14,094M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€1,882M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€27,035M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€729M
€747M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€740M
€484M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,819M
€2,534M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,500
€88,502
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€660M
€842M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
43,270
35,400
Self-employed persons
3,470
4,630
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,730
8,150
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
82.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
3.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
55,300
56,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,284
3,683
Enterprise births
268
236
Enterprise deaths
318
285
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
2.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
2.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
34.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
6.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
21.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
7.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
367,490
614,435
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
671 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
859
1,035
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,654 kt
4,709 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
790
1,003
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.
34
53
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
68,018
63,854
Population aged 65+
27,013
25,318
Population aged under 15
13,748
14,043
Median age of population
48.8 yrs
49.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.7%
39.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.1 /1k
-0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.8 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
706
764
Deaths
1,460
1,314
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.9%
61.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.20
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
197 /km²
81 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,777
92,397
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
17.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
1,117 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
1.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.7 /100k
5.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
162 /100k
68.8 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
777 /100k
397 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
37 /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)
251 m
540 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
96 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr