NUTS-3 DEG0U · Germany
Population
100,1052025
GDP
€3,312M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,009.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEG0U · DEE0E
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saalfeld-Rudolstadt (Opportunity 38). Runner-up: Wittenberg (37). Contrarian pick: Wittenberg — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Freight intensity (95) · Industrial base (71)
Red flags
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Saalfeld-Rudolstadt
Its weakest dimension is Growth momentum (EU pctl 25) — Wittenberg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Wittenberg · Manufacturing → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt · Office → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt · Residential → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.
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
38.4
36.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
31.8
40.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.7
46.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
49.0
41.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
68.3
64.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.5
14.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
24.8
21.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
2.3% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
1.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,083
€31,378
Population density
99 /km²
62 /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)
€3,025M
€3,488M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€64M
€152M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,054M
€1,023M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€904M
€795M
GVA — construction (F)
€190M
€285M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€383M
€564M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,200
€24,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,100 PPS
27,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,700
€31,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,609M
€15,488M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,167M
€2,294M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€42,299M
€40,875M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€503M
€586M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€831M
€878M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€3,057M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€76,053
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€768M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
43,920
52,880
Self-employed persons
4,250
4,560
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,930
11,430
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.7%
6.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
—
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
55,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,430
3,979
Enterprise births
174
221
Enterprise deaths
239
304
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.9%
2.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.6%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.4%
25.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.6%
28.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
7.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
16.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
6.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
342,426
460,523
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
568 /1k
573 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,732 kt
7,861 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
871
1,028
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
870
845
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
26 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
44
56
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)
56,932
69,545
Population aged 65+
31,382
37,664
Population aged under 15
11,791
14,485
Median age of population
54.1 yrs
54.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
55.1%
54.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-10.0 /1k
-4.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.3 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.0 /1k
5.6 /1k
Crude death rate
16.3 /1k
16.1 /1k
Live births
505
679
Deaths
1,641
1,966
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
75.8%
75.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.35
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
101 /km²
64 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
105,133
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.4%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
79.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.4%
21.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,212 /100k
1,223 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
276 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.8 /100k
61.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
206 /100k
457 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,013 /100k
979 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
52 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
—
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)
541 m
68 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
84 days/yr
56 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
1 days/yr