NUTS-3 DE732 · Germany
Population
222,2832025
GDP
€10,561M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,381.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE732 · DEG01
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Fulda (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt (52). Contrarian pick: Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 81).
Strengths
Economic base (81) · Labour market (67)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Fulda
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 30) — Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Fulda 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
55.3
52.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
58.5
51.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
58.1
45.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
67.0
46.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
58.7
65.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
28.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
31.0
44.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.3% 5y
0.0% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.4% 5y
10.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€47,512
€49,632
Population density
161 /km²
810 /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)
€9,647M
€9,919M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€81M
€49M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,003M
€1,206M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,771M
€667M
GVA — construction (F)
€652M
€468M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,090M
€2,346M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,900
€25,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,400 PPS
44,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,600
€49,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,649M
€14,609M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,829M
€3,167M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€32,339M
€42,299M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,534M
€2,230M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,287M
€3,620M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,225M
€9,168M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,915
€79,401
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,225M
€2,091M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
132,290
144,520
Self-employed persons
10,710
10,080
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,050
6,950
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.7%
80.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
7.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
117,900
114,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
8,122
7,277
Enterprise births
629
485
Enterprise deaths
619
595
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
2.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
4.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.9%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.6%
30.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.8%
35.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.2%
8.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.8%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
7.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,551,296
1,067,721
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
642 /1k
568 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,770 kt
5,072 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,068
679
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
930
310
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
32 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
95
4
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
140,283
139,352
Population aged 65+
50,347
51,312
Population aged under 15
31,653
28,129
Median age of population
45.4 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.9%
36.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-1.8 /1k
-3.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.1 /1k
1.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
11.5 /1k
Live births
1,855
1,459
Deaths
2,732
2,531
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.5%
57.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.07
Population density (persons per km²)
161 /km²
821 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
222,872
200,779
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.0%
23.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.2%
17.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,078 /100k
1,212 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
2.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.7 /100k
111 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
190 /100k
1,223 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,014 /100k
2,723 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
46 /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)
305 m
208 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
67 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr