NUTS-3 DEG01 · Germany
Population
218,7932025
GDP
€10,859M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
270.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEG01 · DEA14
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Krefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt (52). Contrarian pick: Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 81).
Strengths
Economic base (81) · Labour market (67)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Krefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Air quality (EU pctl 26) — Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Krefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Krefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Krefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Erfurt, 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
52.2
60.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
55.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.7
42.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
46.7
26.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.3
78.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.5
43.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.2
36.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.0% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.9% 5y
5.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,632
€47,867
Population density
810 /km²
1,682 /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)
€9,919M
€10,118M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€49M
€23M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,206M
€2,664M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€667M
€2,227M
GVA — construction (F)
€468M
€298M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,346M
€2,640M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,200
€27,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,100 PPS
42,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,500
€48,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,609M
€40,936M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,167M
€5,526M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€42,299M
€145,544M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,230M
€2,237M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,620M
€2,255M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,168M
€9,315M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€79,401
€92,827
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,091M
€1,736M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
144,520
125,920
Self-employed persons
10,080
9,420
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,950
21,580
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.7%
8.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
4.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
114,900
117,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,277
8,846
Enterprise births
485
825
Enterprise deaths
595
848
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.6%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.4%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.6%
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
19.9%
22.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
8.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,067,721
266,461
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
568 /1k
567 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,072 kt
7,807 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
679
817
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
310
353
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
4
14
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
6
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
139,352
147,816
Population aged 65+
51,312
51,534
Population aged under 15
28,129
32,056
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
45.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.8%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.4 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.4 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
11.5 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
1,459
1,981
Deaths
2,531
2,987
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.0%
56.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.07
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
821 /km²
1,710 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
200,779
220,255
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.4%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.4%
16.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,212 /100k
1,075 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
254 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.3 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
111 /100k
85.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,223 /100k
525 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,723 /100k
2,116 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /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)
208 m
37 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
34 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr