NUTS-3 DE26A · Germany
Population
125,2822025
GDP
€5,844M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,326.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE26A · DEA44
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Main-Spessart (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Höxter (47). Contrarian pick: Höxter — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 96).
Strengths
Industrial base (98) · Labour market (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
#2Höxter
Strengths
Demographic outlook (96) · Freight intensity (80)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Main-Spessart
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 13) — Höxter may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Höxter · Manufacturing → Main-Spessart · Office → Main-Spessart · Residential → Höxter.
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
55.4
46.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
39.3
62.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
70.7
58.2
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
56.3
78.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
46.0
36.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.0
29.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.9% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€46,645
€33,734
Population density
94 /km²
116 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 81 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,338M
€4,291M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€94M
€139M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,499M
€985M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,331M
€783M
GVA — construction (F)
€306M
€278M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€582M
€758M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€29,800
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,500 PPS
30,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,500
€33,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,277M
€18,145M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,933M
€5,057M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€34,752M
€52,413M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,005M
€934M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€853M
€1,197M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,026M
€3,959M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€97,591
€76,961
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,093M
€899M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
63,280
64,260
Self-employed persons
5,290
6,250
Employment in manufacturing (C)
23,370
12,480
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
69,600
74,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,422
4,813
Enterprise births
291
333
Enterprise deaths
325
370
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.8%
3.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.9%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.3%
30.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.5%
33.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.8%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.4%
21.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.8%
8.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
442,092
483,777
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
665 /1k
632 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,375 kt
6,226 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
738
1,304
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
589
936
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
83
32
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
76,729
85,527
Population aged 65+
31,750
34,636
Population aged under 15
16,803
19,089
Median age of population
49.3 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.4%
40.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.2 /1k
1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.7 /1k
6.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
13.2 /1k
Live births
935
1,155
Deaths
1,558
1,838
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.3%
62.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
96 /km²
116 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
121,844
157,561
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
16.5%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.2%
16.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,004 /100k
1,001 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
208 /100k
234 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
14.3 /100k
20.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
103 /100k
160 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
484 /100k
984 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
38 /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)
206 m
246 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
71 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr