NUTS-3 DE131 · Germany
Population
237,4602025
GDP
€14,845M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
154.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE131 · DEA33
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Münster, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis (64). Contrarian pick: Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 89).
Strengths
Economic base (95) · Demographic outlook (86)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Münster, Kreisfreie Stadt
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 9) — Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Münster, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis · Office → Freiburg im Breisgau, Stadtkreis · Residential → Freiburg im Breisgau, 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
64.2
64.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.5
38.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.5
47.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
64.0
41.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
60.0
74.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
55.3
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
36.4
38.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
5.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€62,516
€70,669
Population density
1,539 /km²
1,018 /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)
€13,560M
€19,898M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€58M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,037M
€1,616M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,705M
€1,191M
GVA — construction (F)
€410M
€541M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,040M
€4,518M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
56,100 PPS
63,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€63,000
€71,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€24,625M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,717M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€57,940M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,843M
€5,968M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,213M
€7,196M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€12,858M
€18,310M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,075
€92,383
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,497M
€4,158M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
186,690
248,250
Self-employed persons
12,290
14,820
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,300
13,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.3%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.0%
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
142,600
179,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,733
11,945
Enterprise births
898
984
Enterprise deaths
851
968
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.0%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.6%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.8%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.0%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.3%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,123,388
1,252,704
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,247 kt
5,007 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
784
1,170
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
330
380
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
48
21
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
163,501
211,963
Population aged 65+
42,291
57,608
Population aged under 15
31,668
38,687
Median age of population
37.9 yrs
39.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.9%
27.2%
Crude rate of total population change
5.2 /1k
3.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.4 /1k
4.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
8.4 /1k
9.1 /1k
Live births
2,155
2,580
Deaths
1,984
2,815
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
45.2%
45.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.11
1.12
Population density (persons per km²)
1,548 /km²
1,019 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
236,695
302,154
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.4%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.2 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.1%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
950 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
205 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
96.5 /100k
87.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
440 /100k
654 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,266 /100k
2,569 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
35 /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)
243 m
67 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
13 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
56 days/yr
44 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
3 days/yr