NUTS-3 DEF02 · Germany
Population
252,6682025
GDP
€14,647M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
109.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEF02 · DE131
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Kiel, Kreisfreie Stadt (55).
Why you might not pick Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 15) — Kiel, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis 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
54.6
64.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.8
69.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.7
65.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.7
64.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
39.7
60.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
35.5
55.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.8
36.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.8% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€57,970
€62,516
Population density
2,298 /km²
1,539 /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)
€13,379M
€13,560M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
€17M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,007M
€2,037M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,632M
€1,705M
GVA — construction (F)
€359M
€410M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,323M
€3,040M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,800
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
52,000 PPS
56,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€58,400
€63,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,063M
€24,625M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,460M
€4,717M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€61,661M
€57,940M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,621M
€2,843M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,065M
€5,213M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€12,131M
€12,858M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,880
€84,075
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,290M
€3,497M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
180,810
186,690
Self-employed persons
10,480
12,290
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,360
14,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
82.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.0%
4.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
3.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,800
142,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,637
9,733
Enterprise births
738
898
Enterprise deaths
691
851
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.0%
6.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
37.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
42.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
9.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.5%
25.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
9.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,108,564
2,123,388
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,859 kt
3,247 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
827
784
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
327
330
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
80
48
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
172,470
163,501
Population aged 65+
49,169
42,291
Population aged under 15
31,029
31,668
Median age of population
40.1 yrs
37.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.5%
25.9%
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
5.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
9.1 /1k
Crude death rate
11.0 /1k
8.4 /1k
Live births
2,080
2,155
Deaths
2,772
1,984
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
46.5%
45.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.08
1.11
Population density (persons per km²)
2,156 /km²
1,548 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
238,919
236,695
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
18.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
13.1%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
950 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
205 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
112 /100k
96.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,620 /100k
440 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,782 /100k
2,266 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
34 /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)
28 m
243 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
13 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
49 days/yr
56 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
6 days/yr