NUTS-3 CH053 · Switzerland
Population
56,7052025
GDP
€3,877M2022
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
245.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
CH053 · CH064
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Appenzell Ausserrhoden (Opportunity 62). Runner-up: Obwalden (58). Contrarian pick: Obwalden — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Digital readiness (98) · Labour market (96)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Appenzell Ausserrhoden
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 5) — Obwalden may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Obwalden · Manufacturing → Obwalden · Office → Appenzell Ausserrhoden · Residential → Appenzell Ausserrhoden.
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
61.7
58.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
75.0
78.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
82.3
86.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
79.3
66.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
71.5
81.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
56.4
49.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
2.3% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
6.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€68,377
€75,154
Population density
231 /km²
81 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 64 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,642M
€2,800M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€39M
€44M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,257M
€923M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€627M
€427M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€290M
€176M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,587M
€2,758M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€148,351
€160,697
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,144M
€879M
Labour market
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
86.0%
86.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.4%
4.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
31,900
22,700
Innovation & R&D
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.5%
5.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.8%
46.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.4%
49.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
24.4%
24.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.5%
26.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
11.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
100.0%
97.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
191,630
1,039,138
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
589 /1k
607 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
424 kt
2,340 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
482
299
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
44 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
850
754
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
40
70
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
35,479
25,340
Population aged 65+
12,302
8,507
Population aged under 15
8,924
5,815
Median age of population
44.9 yrs
45.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.7%
33.6%
Crude rate of total population change
3.7 /1k
9.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.6 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
9.5 /1k
7.3 /1k
Live births
482
314
Deaths
535
290
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
56.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
233 /km²
83 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
56,443
41,520
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.2%
13.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
84.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.4%
10.4%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
487 /100k
313 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
861 /100k
824 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
192 /100k
186 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
5.3 /100k
5.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
320 /100k
181 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
890 /100k
1,189 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
24 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.03
2.03
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.76
1.76
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
2.09
2.09
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
1.03
1.03
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
845 m
825 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
96 days/yr
109 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
22 days/yr
18 days/yr