NUTS-3 DE234 · Germany
Population
103,9822025
GDP
€3,624M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,256.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE234 · DEA31
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Amberg-Sulzbach (48). Contrarian pick: Amberg-Sulzbach — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 93).
Why you might not pick Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 25) — Amberg-Sulzbach may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt 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
48.4
51.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
69.5
55.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
72.3
47.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
31.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
73.3
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
37.3
33.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
37.2
43.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.8% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.1% 5y
4.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,848
€29,074
Population density
83 /km²
1,205 /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)
€3,310M
€3,148M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€107M
€22M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€879M
€572M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€711M
€466M
GVA — construction (F)
€270M
€252M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€536M
€524M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,200
€27,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,100 PPS
25,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,900
€29,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,986M
€20,727M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,348M
€2,530M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€31,166M
€59,763M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€864M
€819M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€653M
€960M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,093M
€2,897M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€90,374
€78,112
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€914M
€658M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
41,780
46,440
Self-employed persons
4,450
3,860
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,450
4,480
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.0%
79.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
4.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.8%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
57,800
62,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,543
3,433
Enterprise births
245
306
Enterprise deaths
263
321
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.7%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.9%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.7%
30.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.3%
35.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.2%
8.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.6%
20.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.3%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
297,833
69,520
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
670 /1k
590 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,087 kt
3,293 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,433
527
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,378
445
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
46
33
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
65,212
73,323
Population aged 65+
24,247
28,840
Population aged under 15
14,523
16,372
Median age of population
47.6 yrs
47.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.2%
39.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.4 /1k
-3.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
1.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
13.1 /1k
Live births
933
983
Deaths
1,280
1,552
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.5%
61.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
83 /km²
1,187 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
106,049
107,602
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.8%
24.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.6%
18.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,096 /100k
1,053 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
234 /100k
246 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
4.8 /100k
45.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
74.0 /100k
557 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
297 /100k
1,359 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /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)
444 m
64 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
85 days/yr
37 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr