NUTS-3 ES523 · Spain
Population
2,763,9962025
GDP
€75,522M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
11.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
10,812.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES523 · ES521
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Alicante/Alacant (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Valencia/València (65). Contrarian pick: Valencia/València — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 76).
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Digital readiness (88)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Digital readiness (88)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Alicante/Alacant
Labour market (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 14) — Valencia/València may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Valencia/València · Manufacturing → Valencia/València · Office → Alicante/Alacant · Residential → Alicante/Alacant.
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
64.7
64.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.8
45.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
49.8
53.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.0
87.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
47.0
49.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.3
60.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
72.8
78.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.4% 5y
4.8% 5y
Population
1.4% 5y
1.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.4% 5y
8.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€27,323
€22,853
Population density
256 /km²
348 /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)
€68,749M
€42,408M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1,660M
€562M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€13,526M
€5,117M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€10,338M
€4,404M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,918M
€3,421M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€17,811M
€12,231M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€16,000
€16,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,600 PPS
26,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,100
€23,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,331M
€25,331M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,983M
€4,983M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€70,224M
€70,224M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€17,799M
€11,312M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€14,035M
€9,766M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€70,815M
€43,576M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€71,199
€65,043
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€15,538M
€9,561M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
1,140,300
768,100
Self-employed persons
167,100
130,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
139,000
81,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.1%
74.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
30.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
11.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
1,406,300
1,016,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
196,322
153,279
Enterprise births
20,100
16,355
Enterprise deaths
16,308
12,875
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
4.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.1%
38.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.1%
53.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.3%
18.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.2%
22.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
98.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
13,171,283
32,579,948
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
510 /1k
510 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
115,701 kt
48,365 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,359
1,869
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
50 km/1000km²
50 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
122
92
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
32
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)
1,851,227
1,337,664
Population aged 65+
552,486
426,265
Population aged under 15
360,283
269,637
Median age of population
45.4 yrs
45.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
29.8%
31.9%
Crude rate of total population change
19.4 /1k
20.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.5 /1k
21.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
8.7 /1k
8.4 /1k
Live births
18,147
13,207
Deaths
23,864
16,946
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
49.3%
52.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.11
1.15
Population density (persons per km²)
255 /km²
349 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
2,332,960
1,911,954
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.7%
30.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.0%
26.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
219 /100k
219 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
900 /100k
900 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
132 /100k
110 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
373 /100k
388 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
430 /100k
450 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
30 /M
30 /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)
344 m
216 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
68 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
1 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
3 days/yr