NUTS-3 ES421 · Spain
Population
390,7512025
GDP
€10,285M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
14,926.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES421 · ES230
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: La Rioja (Opportunity 50). Runner-up: Albacete (50). Contrarian pick: Albacete — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 75).
#2Albacete
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Freight intensity (75)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick La Rioja
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Connectivity (EU pctl 14) — Albacete may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
La Rioja 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
49.6
50.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.5
53.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.2
52.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
48.3
62.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
13.7
13.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
45.3
48.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
66.0
59.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.7% 5y
3.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.8% 5y
5.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€26,322
€32,058
Population density
26 /km²
65 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,386M
€9,548M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€813M
€484M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,882M
€2,520M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,178M
€2,049M
GVA — construction (F)
€537M
€531M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,175M
€2,012M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,800
€18,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,700 PPS
36,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€26,500
€32,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,963M
€1,685M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,892M
€441M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,774M
€4,737M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,731M
€1,946M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,247M
€2,055M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,161M
€9,872M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€68,142
€77,437
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,212M
€1,911M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
163,000
146,300
Self-employed persons
31,100
24,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,700
26,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
27.6%
25.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.8%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
195,600
166,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
26,533
22,502
Enterprise births
2,043
1,532
Enterprise deaths
1,938
1,520
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
0.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
2.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.3%
41.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
48.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.0%
14.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.6%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.3%
97.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,315,813
1,675,862
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
599 /1k
516 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,102 kt
12,205 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
10
6
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
3
2
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
125
120
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
258,963
210,722
Population aged 65+
81,452
73,503
Population aged under 15
50,336
42,578
Median age of population
46.3 yrs
47.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.5%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
4.3 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.6 /1k
11.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
10.2 /1k
Live births
2,545
2,049
Deaths
3,826
3,306
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
50.9%
55.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.17
1.16
Population density (persons per km²)
26 /km²
65 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
258,619
234,440
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.0%
22.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
83.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.9%
18.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
236 /100k
319 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
837 /100k
815 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
204 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
53.2 /100k
37.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
319 /100k
308 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
230 /100k
253 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
43 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.14
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.84
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.96
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.78
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.16
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.106/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
920 m
1,151 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
78 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr