NUTS-3 DED21 · Germany
Population
564,9042025
GDP
€28,833M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
329.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DED21 · DEA13
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Essen, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 67). Runner-up: Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt (59). Contrarian pick: Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Economic base (87) · Demographic outlook (80)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Essen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 9) — Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Essen, Kreisfreie Stadt 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
59.4
67.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.8
46.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.8
44.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
31.3
29.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.7
73.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
48.3
43.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.8
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.9% 5y
5.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,041
€54,443
Population density
1,716 /km²
2,733 /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)
€26,336M
€28,578M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€20M
€12M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,641M
€4,675M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,827M
€1,771M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,219M
€1,136M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,631M
€6,512M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,500
€27,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
45,800 PPS
48,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,300
€54,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,678M
€40,936M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,549M
€5,526M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€35,145M
€145,544M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,401M
€9,022M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€8,424M
€7,220M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,397M
€26,310M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,348
€94,290
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,857M
€4,902M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
350,030
350,160
Self-employed persons
23,460
22,610
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,920
18,770
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.8%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
8.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
296,700
291,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
19,733
19,877
Enterprise births
1,398
1,923
Enterprise deaths
1,632
1,927
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.1%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.3%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.8%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.9%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.8%
35.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
9.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.8%
22.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.6%
8.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,606,893
1,648,389
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
533 /1k
567 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,929 kt
8,561 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,932
1,675
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
342
292
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
7
25
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
362,878
366,644
Population aged 65+
123,808
126,187
Population aged under 15
78,218
81,851
Median age of population
42.0 yrs
43.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
34.4%
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
1.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.5 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude death rate
10.4 /1k
13.3 /1k
Live births
4,097
5,289
Deaths
5,860
7,621
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.7%
56.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.10
1.40
Population density (persons per km²)
1,741 /km²
2,775 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
727,764
608,098
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.6%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
16.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,076 /100k
1,075 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
254 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.2 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
74.4 /100k
93.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
843 /100k
896 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,802 /100k
2,664 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
42 /M
22 /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)
112 m
102 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
38 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr