NUTS-3 ES423 · Spain
Population
199,8592025
GDP
€5,860M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
17,156.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES423 · AT225
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: West- und Südsteiermark (Opportunity 48). Runner-up: Cuenca (43). Contrarian pick: Cuenca — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Freight intensity (77) · Resilience (74)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
#2Cuenca
Strengths
Freight intensity (98) · Energy cost (95)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick West- und Südsteiermark
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 7) — Cuenca may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Cuenca · Manufacturing → West- und Südsteiermark · Office → West- und Südsteiermark · Residential → West- und Südsteiermark.
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
43.1
48.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.8
73.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
39.0
51.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
16.3
29.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
19.3
44.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
45.3
66.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
68.4
49.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.2% 5y
2.3% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.3% 5y
2.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,320
€38,307
Population density
12 /km²
87 /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)
€5,347M
€6,896M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€704M
€211M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,226M
€2,283M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€541M
€1,559M
GVA — construction (F)
€322M
€637M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,257M
€1,123M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,800
€30,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
33,100 PPS
34,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,500
€38,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,963M
€15,264M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,892M
€3,445M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,774M
€31,076M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€818M
€1,531M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,020M
€1,112M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,219M
€6,743M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€74,451
€100,299
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,260M
€1,957M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
85,000
83,200
Self-employed persons
17,500
14,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,200
17,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
27.6%
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.7%
5.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
97,500
100,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
13,584
12,445
Enterprise births
955
843
Enterprise deaths
909
611
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
2.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
5.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
3.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.3%
34.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
43.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.0%
16.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
23.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.6%
10.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.3%
94.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
964,798
756,298
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
599 /1k
626 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,629 kt
8,483 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
59
1
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
30
1
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
136
20
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
129,115
127,215
Population aged 65+
47,166
46,620
Population aged under 15
23,578
26,381
Median age of population
47.9 yrs
48.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.5%
36.6%
Crude rate of total population change
4.2 /1k
0.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.3 /1k
3.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude death rate
11.7 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
1,322
1,407
Deaths
2,335
2,146
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.8%
57.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.22
1.31
Population density (persons per km²)
12 /km²
89 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
112,700
171,137
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.0%
18.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.9%
15.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
236 /100k
723 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
837 /100k
954 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.6 /100k
5.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
337 /100k
198 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
152 /100k
458 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.74
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
1.40
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
1.64
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
1.37
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.60
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.156/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.049/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,045 m
607 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
88 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
10 days/yr