NUTS-3 DEC05 · Germany
Population
144,0922025
GDP
€6,853M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
421.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC05 · AT223
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saarpfalz-Kreis (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Östliche Obersteiermark (42). Contrarian pick: Östliche Obersteiermark — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Industrial base (95) · Freight intensity (90)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Saarpfalz-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 18) — Östliche Obersteiermark may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Saarpfalz-Kreis · Manufacturing → Östliche Obersteiermark · Office → Saarpfalz-Kreis · Residential → Saarpfalz-Kreis.
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
49.4
42.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
43.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.1
51.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
32.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.7
31.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
66.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
25.6
23.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
3.2% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.0% 5y
2.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€47,562
€48,442
Population density
342 /km²
49 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,260M
€6,801M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€12M
€157M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,113M
€2,729M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,003M
€2,432M
GVA — construction (F)
€323M
€450M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,209M
€1,094M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€30,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,300 PPS
42,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,400
€48,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€15,264M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€3,445M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€31,076M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,091M
€1,099M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,513M
€1,273M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,691M
€6,650M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,793
€110,928
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,332M
€1,930M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
85,990
74,200
Self-employed persons
5,770
7,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,710
21,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
5.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
71,000
75,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,323
7,681
Enterprise births
420
479
Enterprise deaths
462
425
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
2.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
5.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
3.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
34.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
43.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
16.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
23.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
10.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
—
94.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
221,283
709,455
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
626 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,849 kt
8,446 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,198
4
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
94 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
831
3
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
76
63
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
87,425
95,740
Population aged 65+
38,740
41,560
Population aged under 15
17,927
18,848
Median age of population
49.9 yrs
49.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.3%
43.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.7 /1k
-7.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.8 /1k
-0.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
14.8 /1k
13.0 /1k
Live births
1,055
1,035
Deaths
2,133
2,041
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.8%
63.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.29
Population density (persons per km²)
345 /km²
49 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
125,352
118,359
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
18.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
15.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
723 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
954 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
22.1 /100k
12.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
207 /100k
348 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
863 /100k
731 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.74
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.40
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.64
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.37
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.60
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.156/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.049/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
383 m
693 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
62 days/yr
104 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr