NUTS-3 DE122 · Germany
Population
309,0502025
GDP
€25,609M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
172.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE122 · DEA22
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Karlsruhe, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 70). Runner-up: Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt (68). Contrarian pick: Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Demographic outlook (92)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Karlsruhe, Stadtkreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 19) — Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Karlsruhe, Stadtkreis · Manufacturing → Karlsruhe, Stadtkreis · Office → Bonn, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Karlsruhe, Stadtkreis.
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
69.8
68.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.0
34.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.8
61.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
58.0
52.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
68.7
82.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
68.3
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
36.4
27.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
0.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€82,865
€88,148
Population density
1,792 /km²
2,240 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,392M
€26,033M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€14M
€5M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,016M
€956M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,632M
€758M
GVA — construction (F)
€710M
€324M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,746M
€9,401M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
74,200 PPS
78,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€83,300
€88,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,701M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,099M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€83,032M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,146M
€6,386M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,759M
€8,962M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€22,212M
€24,352M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€112,776
€111,765
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,365M
€4,351M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
240,790
269,690
Self-employed persons
15,390
15,190
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,120
8,510
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.7%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
170,200
178,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,382
12,955
Enterprise births
1,169
1,131
Enterprise deaths
1,133
1,127
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.5%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.0%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.6%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.5%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,279,742
1,519,750
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
597 /1k
585 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,561 kt
2,512 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,161
1,807
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
376
559
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
36
18
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
211,248
217,605
Population aged 65+
60,660
61,838
Population aged under 15
37,142
43,893
Median age of population
41.1 yrs
41.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.7%
28.4%
Crude rate of total population change
2.8 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.8 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
9.7 /1k
9.9 /1k
Live births
2,358
2,747
Deaths
2,990
3,179
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
46.3%
48.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.09
1.16
Population density (persons per km²)
1,826 /km²
2,371 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
424,590
346,342
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.5%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
980 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.3 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
74.6 /100k
105 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
415 /100k
490 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,775 /100k
2,324 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
27 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.161/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
118 m
173 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
19 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
41 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr