NUTS-3 ES424 · Spain
Population
285,8392025
GDP
€6,879M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
12,209.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES424 · NL325
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zaanstreek (Opportunity 69). Runner-up: Guadalajara (50). Contrarian pick: Guadalajara — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Freight intensity (95) · Energy cost (95)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zaanstreek
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Guadalajara may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zaanstreek 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
49.8
68.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.3
79.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.1
67.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.0
46.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
25.7
72.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
45.3
96.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
78.0
67.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.2% 5y
2.9% 5y
Population
1.7% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.9% 5y
1.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€24,064
€41,470
Population density
23 /km²
1,443 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€6,277M
€6,671M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€369M
€23M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,939M
€1,292M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€938M
€1,254M
GVA — construction (F)
€336M
€541M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,023M
€1,431M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,800
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,800 PPS
35,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€24,800
€41,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,963M
€41,901M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,892M
€3,039M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,774M
€104,822M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€700M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€92M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,312M
€1,540M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,298M
€1,459M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,127M
€6,373M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€81,627
€98,897
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,479M
€1,399M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
91,000
78,600
Self-employed persons
14,700
16,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
11,700
7,900
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
86.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
27.6%
8.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.7%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
148,300
104,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
14,569
23,450
Enterprise births
1,415
2,496
Enterprise deaths
1,223
1,192
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
7.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
—
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
6.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
—
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.3%
52.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
62.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.0%
27.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
36.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.6%
14.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.3%
99.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
769,292
471,112
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
599 /1k
428 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
17,989 kt
7,557 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
98
412
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
108 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
34
230
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
95
19
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)
196,402
116,259
Population aged 65+
48,526
34,556
Population aged under 15
40,911
28,434
Median age of population
44.0 yrs
42.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
24.7%
29.7%
Crude rate of total population change
19.8 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.0 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
9.8 /1k
Crude death rate
7.7 /1k
9.5 /1k
Live births
1,850
1,757
Deaths
2,190
1,692
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
45.5%
54.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.12
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
23 /km²
1,464 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
211,456
176,249
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.0%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.9%
14.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
236 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
837 /100k
990 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.1 /100k
—
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.3 /100k
45.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
282 /100k
135 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
232 /100k
1,230 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
27 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.77
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
1.72
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
1.73
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
1.92
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.63
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.142/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,074 m
0 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
42 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
26 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr