NUTS-3 DE502 · Germany
Population
118,6102025
GDP
€5,079M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
74.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE502 · DEA55
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 57). Runner-up: Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt (47). Contrarian pick: Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 67).
Why you might not pick Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 20) — Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Bremerhaven, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
47.0
57.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
56.3
39.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.5
45.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
36.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.0
74.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
57.0
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
53.4
54.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.4% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
19.2% 5y
6.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,821
€33,542
Population density
1,590 /km²
3,070 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,639M
€4,775M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€15M
€1M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€893M
€1,052M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€718M
€480M
GVA — construction (F)
€168M
€294M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€856M
€988M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
38,200 PPS
29,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,800
€33,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€5,830M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,216M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,387M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,254M
€912M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,454M
€1,528M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,376M
€4,401M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,553
€83,536
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€741M
€1,024M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
61,760
66,100
Self-employed persons
3,860
4,760
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,850
5,820
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.4%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.1%
4.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
58,500
76,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,219
3,984
Enterprise births
305
425
Enterprise deaths
370
412
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.5%
5.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.8%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.3%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.2%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.3%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
39.9%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.9%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.9%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
429,540
61,680
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
427 /1k
603 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,309 kt
4,139 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
402
601
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
339
386
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
169 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
57
28
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
6
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
74,834
98,900
Population aged 65+
25,808
34,436
Population aged under 15
17,968
22,515
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
44.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.5%
34.8%
Crude rate of total population change
2.4 /1k
-1.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.5 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.0 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude death rate
13.1 /1k
14.9 /1k
Live births
1,066
1,392
Deaths
1,550
2,324
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.5%
57.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
1,463 /km²
3,059 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
117,507
152,420
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
35.4%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.7 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
27.5%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,054 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
253 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
172 /100k
78.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,344 /100k
592 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,783 /100k
2,017 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
17 /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)
7 m
66 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr