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DE717 · DE721

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NUTS-3 DE717 · Germany
Population
268,3102025
GDP
€14,911M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
Area
452.3 km²
NUTS-3 DE721 · Germany
Population
268,4182025
GDP
€12,187M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
Area
852.5 km²

Decision brief

Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity

Best overall fit: Groß-Gerau (Opportunity 67). Runner-up: Gießen, Landkreis (66). Contrarian pick: Gießen, Landkreis — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 100).

Strengths
Freight intensity (92) · Industrial base (92)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 36% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Strengths
Demographic outlook (100) · Economic base (74)
No red flags
Why you might not pick Groß-Gerau
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Flood: 36% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Gießen, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Groß-Gerau 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
  • Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions

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
66.9
66.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
32.8
54.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
64.0
56.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
52.3
35.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.3
65.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
62.8
43.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
37.4
59.0

Trajectories · 2012–latest

Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
0.4% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
12.6% 5y

Derived comparisons

GDP per capita
€55,574
€45,405
Population density
593 /km²
315 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only

All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)

Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€13,620M
€11,132M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€43M
€37M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,796M
€2,036M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,568M
€1,744M
GVA — construction (F)
€628M
€478M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,713M
€2,319M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€30,100
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
49,700 PPS
40,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€55,800
€45,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€49,287M
€10,597M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,586M
€1,976M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€137,102M
€25,139M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,734M
€2,636M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,707M
€3,626M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,275M
€10,598M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€125,930
€88,075
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,903M
€2,907M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
126,020
146,520
Self-employed persons
10,250
11,490
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,710
19,740
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.6%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
2.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
140,500
151,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,276
9,850
Enterprise births
994
887
Enterprise deaths
913
928
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.5%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.4%
2.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.5%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.9%
32.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.7%
38.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.5%
10.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.5%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.8%
7.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,063,410
418,065
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
612 /1k
641 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
14,941 kt
7,464 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,272
1,750
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
474
652
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
16
63
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
173,766
175,795
Population aged 65+
53,184
55,971
Population aged under 15
41,360
36,652
Median age of population
43.6 yrs
41.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.6%
31.8%
Crude rate of total population change
1.5 /1k
1.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.0 /1k
3.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
11.2 /1k
Live births
2,471
2,332
Deaths
2,888
2,996
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.4%
52.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.26
Population density (persons per km²)
607 /km²
315 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
295,501
433,767
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.1%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.0 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.4%
18.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
974 /100k
1,062 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
38.8 /100k
51.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
251 /100k
269 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
851 /100k
1,342 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
31 /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)
85 m
232 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
17 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
51 days/yr
64 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr