NUTS-3 DE733 · Germany
Population
117,4142025
GDP
€5,224M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,099.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE733 · DE26A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Main-Spessart (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Hersfeld-Rotenburg (44). Contrarian pick: Hersfeld-Rotenburg — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Industrial base (98) · Labour market (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Main-Spessart
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 13) — Hersfeld-Rotenburg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Hersfeld-Rotenburg · Manufacturing → Main-Spessart · Office → Main-Spessart · Residential → Main-Spessart.
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
44.2
55.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
54.0
39.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
57.1
70.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
67.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.0
56.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
46.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
18.8
38.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
2.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€44,492
€46,645
Population density
107 /km²
94 /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)
€4,772M
€5,338M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€48M
€94M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,053M
€2,499M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€899M
€2,331M
GVA — construction (F)
€410M
€306M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,318M
€582M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,900
€29,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
39,400 PPS
41,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,200
€46,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€11,649M
€12,277M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,829M
€2,933M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€32,339M
€34,752M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€960M
€1,005M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€982M
€853M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,563M
€5,026M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,525
€97,591
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,101M
€1,093M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
64,220
63,280
Self-employed persons
4,840
5,290
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,970
23,370
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.7%
82.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
3.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
59,700
69,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,503
4,422
Enterprise births
268
291
Enterprise deaths
302
325
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
2.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
2.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
3.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.9%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.6%
34.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.8%
42.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.2%
8.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.8%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.0%
8.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
611,768
442,092
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
642 /1k
665 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,634 kt
5,375 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
966
738
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
823
589
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
63
83
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)
71,076
76,729
Population aged 65+
30,172
31,750
Population aged under 15
16,166
16,803
Median age of population
49.0 yrs
49.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.5%
41.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.1 /1k
-4.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.7 /1k
0.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.1 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
14.9 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
953
935
Deaths
1,754
1,558
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.2%
63.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.63
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
107 /km²
96 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
117,792
121,844
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.0%
16.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.2%
13.2%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,078 /100k
1,004 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
227 /100k
208 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.5 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.0 /100k
14.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
156 /100k
103 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
796 /100k
484 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
47 /M
39 /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)
300 m
206 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
72 days/yr
71 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr