NUTS-3 DE239 · Germany
Population
149,3122025
GDP
€6,923M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,459.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE239 · DEA59
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Olpe (Opportunity 60). Runner-up: Schwandorf (54). Contrarian pick: Schwandorf — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 96).
Why you might not pick Olpe
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 28) — Schwandorf may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Schwandorf · Manufacturing → Schwandorf · Office → Olpe · Residential → Olpe.
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
54.3
60.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.0
29.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
69.0
53.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
56.7
75.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
37.3
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.0
49.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.2% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
10.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€46,368
€55,864
Population density
102 /km²
186 /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)
€6,324M
€6,753M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€132M
€50M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,374M
€3,687M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,057M
€3,567M
GVA — construction (F)
€357M
€301M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€963M
€702M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,200
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,600 PPS
49,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,700
€55,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,986M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,348M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€31,166M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,306M
€1,025M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,192M
€988M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,910M
€6,225M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,390
€97,200
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,747M
€1,448M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
80,710
80,350
Self-employed persons
7,090
5,730
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,980
31,470
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.0%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.7%
4.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
84,500
65,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,436
4,873
Enterprise births
394
323
Enterprise deaths
398
347
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
3.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.9%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.7%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.3%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.2%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.6%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.3%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
431,837
535,227
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
670 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,663 kt
5,714 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,311
1,099
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
878
830
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
88
56
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
95,309
84,551
Population aged 65+
33,058
29,039
Population aged under 15
20,945
18,756
Median age of population
46.2 yrs
46.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.7%
34.3%
Crude rate of total population change
4.1 /1k
-0.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.5 /1k
3.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
11.9 /1k
11.9 /1k
Live births
1,262
1,045
Deaths
1,768
1,581
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.7%
56.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
103 /km²
188 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
147,726
138,775
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
15.8%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.6%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,096 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
234 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.1 /100k
24.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
80.7 /100k
180 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
518 /100k
874 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /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)
472 m
401 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
86 days/yr
72 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
6 days/yr