NUTS-3 DEF04 · Germany
Population
79,8092025
GDP
€4,465M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
71.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEF04 · DE237
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab (Opportunity 51). Runner-up: Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt (46). Contrarian pick: Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (99) · Freight intensity (91)
No red flags
Why you might not pick Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 16) — Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab · Office → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Neumünster, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
46.3
51.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
58.3
63.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.8
72.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
58.7
67.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
35.5
37.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
46.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.8% 5y
1.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€55,944
€41,637
Population density
1,115 /km²
67 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,078M
€3,653M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€13M
€97M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€812M
€1,519M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€684M
€1,405M
GVA — construction (F)
€217M
€260M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,147M
€398M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,800
€29,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
50,300 PPS
37,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€56,400
€41,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,063M
€14,986M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,460M
€3,348M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€61,661M
€31,166M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€981M
€772M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€909M
€607M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,698M
€3,414M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,517
€95,424
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,003M
€1,009M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
55,350
43,680
Self-employed persons
3,440
4,720
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,570
14,790
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
83.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.0%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
2.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
42,800
53,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,603
3,407
Enterprise births
201
219
Enterprise deaths
256
260
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
3.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.0%
5.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
32.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
40.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
7.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.5%
21.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
8.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
204,631
240,579
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
670 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
434
1,291
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,396 kt
3,668 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
544
1,344
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.
51
60
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
51,016
60,047
Population aged 65+
18,429
22,318
Population aged under 15
10,364
13,684
Median age of population
45.8 yrs
47.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.1%
37.2%
Crude rate of total population change
4.4 /1k
-1.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
10.4 /1k
0.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
9.8 /1k
Crude death rate
14.1 /1k
12.2 /1k
Live births
642
944
Deaths
1,123
1,177
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.4%
60.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.40
1.81
Population density (persons per km²)
1,138 /km²
68 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
120,418
98,290
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
15.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
14.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
1,096 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
234 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
111 /100k
7.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
891 /100k
56.1 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
3,146 /100k
378 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
38 /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)
26 m
445 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
91 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr