NUTS-3 ES703 · Spain
Population
11,9932025
GDP
€232M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
13.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
67.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
267.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES703 · EL412
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: El Hierro (Opportunity 31). Runner-up: Ικαρία, Σάμος (19). Contrarian pick: Ικαρία, Σάμος — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (99) · Energy cost (95)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Demographic outlook (100) · Cost advantage (88)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick El Hierro
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 2) — Ικαρία, Σάμος may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
El Hierro 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
30.5
18.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
35.5
13.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.4
32.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
2.5
17.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
38.8
12.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
73.4
41.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.7% 5y
3.6% 5y
Population
1.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.1% 5y
17.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,336
€14,811
Population density
45 /km²
55 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€218M
€556M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€12M
€12M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€16M
€49M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€6M
€24M
GVA — construction (F)
€15M
€11M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€57M
€175M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,300
€11,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
22,200 PPS
16,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€19,800
€12,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,461M
€652M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€298M
€19M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€28,532M
€1,148M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€86M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€4M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€41M
€132M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€78M
€178M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€221M
€578M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€57,958
€36,648
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€41M
€164M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
4,300
18,780
Self-employed persons
800
7,750
Employment in manufacturing (C)
100
850
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.1%
68.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
29.5%
31.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
13.3%
6.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
6,000
17,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
718
4,055
Enterprise births
85
260
Enterprise deaths
63
81
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.9%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.1%
—
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.3%
21.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.7%
19.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.1%
5.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
17.6%
12.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.8%
7.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.3%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
151,519
1,377,316
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
609 /1k
302 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
119 kt
143 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
39 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
148
70
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
7,981
26,965
Population aged 65+
2,752
11,301
Population aged under 15
1,260
4,744
Median age of population
47.8 yrs
46.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.5%
41.9%
Crude rate of total population change
17.4 /1k
12.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
20.7 /1k
18.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.0 /1k
6.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.3 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
60
255
Deaths
99
511
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
50.3%
59.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
0.85
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
45 /km²
56 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
17,593
93,018
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
31.2%
27.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.9 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
22.9%
22.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
290 /100k
335 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
826 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
214 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
2.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.5 /100k
4.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
59.4 /100k
25.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
161 /100k
104 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
31 /M
98 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
876 m
518 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
41 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
7 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
1 days/yr
15 days/yr