NUTS-3 DE247 · Germany
Population
84,4682025
GDP
€2,882M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
594.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE247 · DE24C
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Lichtenfels (Opportunity 42). Runner-up: Coburg, Landkreis (38). Contrarian pick: Coburg, Landkreis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Industrial base (92) · Labour market (88)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Lichtenfels
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 19) — Coburg, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Lichtenfels 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
37.9
41.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
35.3
64.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.0
67.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
55.0
62.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
31.0
31.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
17.4
24.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,123
€41,219
Population density
142 /km²
129 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 80 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,633M
€2,537M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€55M
€29M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€956M
€566M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€863M
€500M
GVA — construction (F)
€158M
€165M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€447M
€501M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,400 PPS
36,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,100
€41,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,094M
€14,094M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,882M
€1,882M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€27,035M
€27,035M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€613M
€656M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€405M
€620M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,457M
€2,368M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,814
€79,934
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€816M
€787M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
35,810
36,610
Self-employed persons
3,420
2,920
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,610
7,980
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
82.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
3.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
45,500
36,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,752
2,395
Enterprise births
182
156
Enterprise deaths
226
205
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.4%
3.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.8%
2.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
34.1%
34.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
6.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.7%
21.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
7.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
133,561
417,485
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
671 /1k
671 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
610
591
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,086 kt
3,196 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
722
877
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
82
67
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
51,909
41,863
Population aged 65+
21,161
16,552
Population aged under 15
11,398
8,964
Median age of population
49.4 yrs
48.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.8%
39.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.6 /1k
-5.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.3 /1k
1.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
13.5 /1k
14.3 /1k
Live births
645
528
Deaths
1,141
967
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.7%
61.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
143 /km²
131 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
77,043
63,885
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.3%
17.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,117 /100k
1,117 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
230 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.3 /100k
11.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
105 /100k
126 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
569 /100k
824 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
37 /M
37 /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)
366 m
367 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
85 days/yr
76 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr