NUTS-3 DEF0B · Germany
Population
278,0582025
GDP
€10,435M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,164.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEF0B · DEA57
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Hochsauerlandkreis (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Rendsburg-Eckernförde (54). Contrarian pick: Rendsburg-Eckernförde — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 65).
Why you might not pick Hochsauerlandkreis
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 28) — Rendsburg-Eckernförde may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Hochsauerlandkreis 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
54.4
61.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
61.3
54.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.4
55.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.7
80.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
35.5
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.0
39.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
0.0% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.6% 5y
10.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€37,529
€44,916
Population density
128 /km²
132 /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)
€9,532M
€10,702M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€242M
€214M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,515M
€3,433M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€883M
€2,957M
GVA — construction (F)
€786M
€642M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,236M
€1,746M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,800
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,500 PPS
40,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€37,600
€44,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,063M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,460M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€61,661M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,091M
€2,194M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,660M
€2,472M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,643M
€9,864M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,596
€81,335
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,344M
€2,294M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
126,320
152,150
Self-employed persons
13,180
12,520
Employment in manufacturing (C)
11,240
38,090
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.0%
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
4.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
143,400
126,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,812
10,352
Enterprise births
797
712
Enterprise deaths
796
761
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.0%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.5%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,856,957
3,569,719
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,457 kt
18,382 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,900
2,484
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
683
952
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.
78
42
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)
170,785
163,414
Population aged 65+
68,994
62,310
Population aged under 15
38,279
35,119
Median age of population
49.1 yrs
48.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.4%
38.1%
Crude rate of total population change
0.6 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.6 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
12.9 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
1,922
2,097
Deaths
3,587
3,322
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.8%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.37
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
130 /km²
134 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
228,603
247,055
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
25.6 /100k
28.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
259 /100k
184 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
808 /100k
930 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
23 /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)
13 m
401 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
48 days/yr
71 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
6 days/yr