NUTS-3 DE261 · Germany
Population
73,0912025
GDP
€6,161M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
61.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE261 · DEA18
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Aschaffenburg, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt (54). Contrarian pick: Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Economic base (98) · Freight intensity (87)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (93) · Connectivity (79)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Aschaffenburg, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 13) — Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Aschaffenburg, 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
56.2
54.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.5
48.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
61.6
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
48.5
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.7
79.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
46.0
43.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.0
37.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
12.7% 5y
0.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€84,288
€43,041
Population density
1,188 /km²
1,554 /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)
€5,627M
€4,475M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€7M
€5M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,548M
€1,620M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,320M
€1,512M
GVA — construction (F)
€246M
€180M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,504M
€728M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,800
€27,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
75,900 PPS
38,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€85,200
€43,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,277M
€40,936M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,933M
€5,526M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€34,752M
€145,544M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,212M
€965M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,111M
€978M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,298M
€4,120M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€106,033
€84,002
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,152M
€768M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
61,400
61,550
Self-employed persons
4,370
4,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,140
18,170
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
76.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
8.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
4.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
42,800
57,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,707
3,896
Enterprise births
268
293
Enterprise deaths
278
296
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.3%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.5%
35.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.8%
9.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.4%
22.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.8%
8.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
281,988
68,876
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
665 /1k
567 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,732 kt
1,318 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
358
686
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
490
603
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
34
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)
47,215
72,387
Population aged 65+
16,118
25,377
Population aged under 15
9,758
16,064
Median age of population
44.5 yrs
45.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
35.1%
Crude rate of total population change
7.4 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.3 /1k
2.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
10.6 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
633
943
Deaths
773
1,416
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.8%
57.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.46
Population density (persons per km²)
1,194 /km²
1,540 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
64,823
107,008
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.5%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.2%
16.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,004 /100k
1,075 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
208 /100k
254 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
62.0 /100k
42.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
211 /100k
267 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,508 /100k
1,247 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
22 /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)
109 m
345 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
13 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
54 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
7 days/yr