NUTS-3 DED42 · Germany
Population
318,3942025
GDP
€9,551M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,827.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DED42 · DED45
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zwickau (Opportunity 50). Runner-up: Erzgebirgskreis (45). Contrarian pick: Erzgebirgskreis — leads the set on Air quality (EU pctl 78).
#1Zwickau
Strengths
Industrial base (95) · Freight intensity (73)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (79) · Air quality (78)
Red flags
Growth momentum (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zwickau
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 12) — Erzgebirgskreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zwickau · Manufacturing → Zwickau · Office → Zwickau · Residential → Erzgebirgskreis.
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
45.4
49.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
41.5
27.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
59.0
52.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
77.7
30.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.0
56.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
22.0
22.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
14.6
26.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.4% 5y
0.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,998
€39,784
Population density
174 /km²
322 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 83 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,724M
€11,148M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€187M
€109M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,466M
€4,269M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,226M
€3,980M
GVA — construction (F)
€755M
€666M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,236M
€1,662M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,500
€25,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,300 PPS
35,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,600
€39,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,850M
€10,850M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,837M
€1,837M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€27,479M
€27,479M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,543M
€1,885M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,537M
€2,558M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,214M
€10,496M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€70,057
€83,661
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,122M
€2,711M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
146,000
156,250
Self-employed persons
15,030
13,240
Employment in manufacturing (C)
39,490
40,250
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
80.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.4%
4.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
154,900
153,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,242
10,601
Enterprise births
555
595
Enterprise deaths
812
767
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.2%
2.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.1%
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
29.3%
29.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.1%
31.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.0%
8.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
18.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
7.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,465,363
487,067
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
602 /1k
602 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,759 kt
12,172 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,559
2,213
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
804
721
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
44
68
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
176,994
175,535
Population aged 65+
101,700
93,316
Population aged under 15
39,700
37,942
Median age of population
53.2 yrs
52.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
57.5%
53.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-11.8 /1k
-10.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.0 /1k
1.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.4 /1k
5.6 /1k
Crude death rate
16.2 /1k
17.2 /1k
Live births
1,719
1,722
Deaths
5,186
5,289
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
79.9%
74.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
176 /km²
325 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
290,227
270,334
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.6%
21.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.2%
18.2%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,211 /100k
1,211 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
239 /100k
239 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.3 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.4 /100k
32.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
164 /100k
298 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
506 /100k
798 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
29 /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)
618 m
303 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
97 days/yr
70 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr