NUTS-3 DE917 · Germany
Population
90,2272025
GDP
€2,516M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
674.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE917 · DE247
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Helmstedt (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Coburg, Landkreis (38). Contrarian pick: Coburg, Landkreis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Industrial base (92) · Labour market (88)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 15 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Helmstedt
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 16) — Coburg, Landkreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Helmstedt · Manufacturing → Coburg, Landkreis · Office → Helmstedt · Residential → Coburg, Landkreis.
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
45.1
37.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.8
35.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.0
61.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.3
55.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
54.5
31.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
53.2
17.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
0.4% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.7% 5y
0.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€27,889
€34,123
Population density
134 /km²
142 /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)
€2,298M
€2,633M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€72M
€55M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€464M
€956M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€200M
€863M
GVA — construction (F)
€109M
€158M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€412M
€447M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,800
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,700 PPS
30,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€27,700
€34,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€22,342M
€14,094M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€7,903M
€1,882M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€43,988M
€27,035M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€580M
€613M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€662M
€405M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,176M
€2,457M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,324
€84,814
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€642M
€816M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
32,480
35,810
Self-employed persons
2,760
3,420
Employment in manufacturing (C)
3,180
12,610
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.0%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.6%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
45,900
45,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
1,968
2,752
Enterprise births
194
182
Enterprise deaths
232
226
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
2.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.9%
2.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.0%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
3.9%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
34.9%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.1%
34.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.8%
6.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.8%
21.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
7.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
118,698
133,561
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
640 /1k
671 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,684 kt
3,086 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
456
610
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
505
722
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
87
82
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
55,428
51,909
Population aged 65+
22,311
21,161
Population aged under 15
12,488
11,398
Median age of population
48.5 yrs
49.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.3%
40.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.1 /1k
-0.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.2 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
14.9 /1k
13.5 /1k
Live births
689
645
Deaths
1,352
1,141
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.8%
62.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.49
1.50
Population density (persons per km²)
134 /km²
143 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
78,562
77,043
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.9%
17.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.5 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.7%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,055 /100k
1,117 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
245 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
1.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.9 /100k
8.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
337 /100k
105 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
993 /100k
569 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
31 /M
37 /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)
100 m
366 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
85 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr