NUTS-3 DE129 · Germany
Population
134,9122025
GDP
€6,508M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
99.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE129 · DEB32
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pforzheim, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Kaiserslautern, Kreisfreie Stadt (57). Contrarian pick: Kaiserslautern, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 92).
Why you might not pick Pforzheim, Stadtkreis
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 16) — Kaiserslautern, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Pforzheim, Stadtkreis 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
63.1
56.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
66.0
57.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
72.8
61.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
66.7
58.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
74.7
61.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
68.3
57.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
46.6
45.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
1.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
3.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€48,242
€60,224
Population density
1,359 /km²
738 /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)
€5,945M
€5,524M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€8M
€6M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,855M
€1,117M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,720M
€901M
GVA — construction (F)
€215M
€175M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,173M
€1,233M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€27,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,100 PPS
53,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€48,400
€60,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,701M
€20,699M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,099M
€4,472M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€83,032M
€49,098M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,278M
€1,337M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,417M
€1,656M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,645M
€5,139M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,127
€85,757
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,363M
€1,300M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,430
73,870
Self-employed persons
5,610
4,630
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,800
8,690
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.4%
81.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.7%
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
70,200
56,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,873
3,466
Enterprise births
428
266
Enterprise deaths
449
259
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
9.1%
6.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.5%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.0%
36.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.6%
41.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
10.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.5%
25.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
237,136
354,403
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
597 /1k
621 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,894 kt
1,614 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
818
583
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
606
581
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
68
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
87,139
66,126
Population aged 65+
27,093
21,620
Population aged under 15
20,680
12,680
Median age of population
41.7 yrs
42.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.1%
32.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
-1.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.1 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
9.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
1,268
963
Deaths
1,460
1,279
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.8%
51.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.45
Population density (persons per km²)
1,378 /km²
718 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
134,813
91,721
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.5%
23.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
980 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
231 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
5.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
48.9 /100k
94.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
305 /100k
360 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,466 /100k
2,225 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
26 /M
25 /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)
356 m
272 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr