NUTS-3 DE145 · Germany
Population
202,3542025
GDP
€7,869M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,353.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE145 · DEA53
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Alb-Donau-Kreis (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt (55). Contrarian pick: Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Industrial base (96) · Labour market (93)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Freight intensity (91) · Connectivity (83)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Alb-Donau-Kreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Hagen, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Alb-Donau-Kreis 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
64.9
54.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.5
45.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
74.0
45.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
25.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.3
83.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.5
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
49.6
30.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.2% 5y
8.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€38,886
€39,448
Population density
150 /km²
1,187 /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)
€7,187M
€6,860M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€127M
€4M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,959M
€1,552M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,690M
€1,311M
GVA — construction (F)
€498M
€232M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,119M
€1,504M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,000
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,900 PPS
35,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,100
€39,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,503M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,289M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,964M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,375M
€1,488M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,109M
€2,081M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,815M
€6,323M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€100,955
€84,591
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,012M
€1,471M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
82,190
93,780
Self-employed persons
8,510
6,590
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,120
15,650
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.3%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
4.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
114,700
93,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,282
5,746
Enterprise births
600
521
Enterprise deaths
604
510
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.9%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.9%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.5%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
40.3%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.9%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.6%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.4%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
592,114
201,981
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
639 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,742 kt
10,391 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,177
1,139
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
582
598
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
51
21
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
6
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
128,744
120,460
Population aged 65+
41,971
41,025
Population aged under 15
31,639
28,899
Median age of population
44.1 yrs
44.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.6%
34.1%
Crude rate of total population change
2.9 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.1 /1k
3.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.2 /1k
13.7 /1k
Live births
1,831
1,767
Deaths
2,066
2,608
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.2%
58.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.54
Population density (persons per km²)
149 /km²
1,198 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
200,589
205,915
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.6%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.5 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.4%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
938 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
195 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
11.9 /100k
92.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
120 /100k
472 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
645 /100k
1,982 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
23 /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)
669 m
140 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
93 days/yr
38 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr