NUTS-3 DE249 · Germany
Population
92,1912025
GDP
€4,229M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
897.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE249 · DE737
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Werra-Meißner-Kreis (Opportunity 47). Runner-up: Hof, Landkreis (43). Contrarian pick: Hof, Landkreis — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 88).
Why you might not pick Werra-Meißner-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Resilience (EU pctl 28) — Hof, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Werra-Meißner-Kreis · Manufacturing → Hof, Landkreis · Office → Werra-Meißner-Kreis · Residential → Werra-Meißner-Kreis.
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
42.5
47.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.3
28.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.5
64.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
92.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
56.7
71.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
31.0
29.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
25.4
39.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
3.4% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.9% 5y
6.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,877
€36,288
Population density
103 /km²
96 /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)
€3,863M
€3,238M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€86M
€51M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,297M
€575M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,116M
€493M
GVA — construction (F)
€215M
€177M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€837M
€395M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,100
€26,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,600 PPS
32,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,600
€36,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,094M
€11,649M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,882M
€1,829M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€27,035M
€32,339M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€804M
€652M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€623M
€1,387M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,605M
€3,097M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,159
€88,004
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,198M
€747M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
48,900
42,840
Self-employed persons
4,490
4,460
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,540
6,020
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
80.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.3%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
48,900
49,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,269
3,291
Enterprise births
202
261
Enterprise deaths
245
270
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.5%
3.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.8%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
30.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
34.1%
31.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
8.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.7%
20.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
8.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
273,995
349,328
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
671 /1k
642 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,710 kt
4,380 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
826
863
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
896
883
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
78
44
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
55,723
58,978
Population aged 65+
24,845
26,267
Population aged under 15
11,623
12,450
Median age of population
51.3 yrs
50.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.6%
44.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.2 /1k
-3.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.0 /1k
5.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude death rate
16.2 /1k
15.8 /1k
Live births
641
694
Deaths
1,498
1,550
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.4%
65.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
1.43
Population density (persons per km²)
104 /km²
96 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
80,467
88,031
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.3%
24.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.7%
19.2%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,117 /100k
1,078 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
230 /100k
227 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
6.5 /100k
27.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
151 /100k
164 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
587 /100k
687 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
37 /M
47 /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)
565 m
323 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
93 days/yr
69 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr