NUTS-3 DE143 · Germany
Population
193,3262025
GDP
€8,190M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
911 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE143 · DEB18
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zollernalbkreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Neuwied (63). Contrarian pick: Neuwied — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 75).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (98) · Industrial base (95)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
#2Neuwied
Strengths
Industrial base (91) · Labour market (80)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zollernalbkreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Neuwied may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zollernalbkreis 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
63.7
62.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
63.0
59.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
74.6
56.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
39.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
71.0
75.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.5
21.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
41.0
54.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.1% 5y
10.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,364
€40,379
Population density
212 /km²
304 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 83 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,481M
€6,973M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€72M
€41M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,818M
€2,438M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,671M
€2,221M
GVA — construction (F)
€490M
€430M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,399M
€1,143M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€27,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,800 PPS
36,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,400
€40,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,503M
€13,756M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,289M
€2,010M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,964M
€33,032M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,477M
€1,427M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,225M
€1,493M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,094M
€6,505M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,412
€88,751
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,094M
€1,667M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
96,590
90,490
Self-employed persons
8,540
8,160
Employment in manufacturing (C)
31,660
20,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.3%
81.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
107,400
99,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,720
7,114
Enterprise births
625
613
Enterprise deaths
602
649
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.1%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.9%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.9%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.5%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.3%
28.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
31.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.9%
8.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
18.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.4%
7.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
242,121
332,387
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
660 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,094 kt
5,761 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,227
1,101
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
635
582
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
52
40
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)
120,559
116,647
Population aged 65+
45,044
44,685
Population aged under 15
27,723
27,729
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
46.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.4%
38.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.1 /1k
2.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.0 /1k
6.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
13.0 /1k
Live births
1,598
1,567
Deaths
2,392
2,448
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.4%
62.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
211 /km²
305 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
245,428
157,785
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.6%
19.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.5 yrs
80.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.4%
12.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
1,059 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
195 /100k
242 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
14.5 /100k
24.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
77.6 /100k
172 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
845 /100k
804 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
39 /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)
675 m
336 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
86 days/yr
58 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr