NUTS-3 DE938 · Germany
Population
141,3212025
GDP
€6,057M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,876.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE938 · DE93B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Heidekreis (Opportunity 53). Runner-up: Verden (51). Contrarian pick: Verden — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 77).
#2Verden
Strengths
Connectivity (77) · Resilience (74)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Heidekreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 22) — Verden may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Heidekreis · Manufacturing → Verden · Office → Heidekreis · Residential → Heidekreis.
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
52.9
51.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
62.0
73.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
57.9
56.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
70.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
67.7
77.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
30.8
30.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.6
47.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.8% 5y
1.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,857
€38,514
Population density
75 /km²
177 /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)
€5,532M
€4,877M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€189M
€127M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€906M
€1,123M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€662M
€905M
GVA — construction (F)
€377M
€353M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,363M
€1,208M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,400
€28,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,800 PPS
34,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,400
€38,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,211M
€16,211M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,023M
€1,023M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€31,011M
€31,011M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€946M
€1,061M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,752M
€1,005M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,107M
€4,502M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,228
€82,581
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,589M
€1,401M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
75,160
69,180
Self-employed persons
7,220
5,630
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,890
12,270
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.2%
80.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.2%
3.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
71,300
68,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,715
4,774
Enterprise births
387
455
Enterprise deaths
395
410
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.0%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.5%
3.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.6%
31.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
30.9%
30.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.3%
8.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.1%
21.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.4%
8.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,965,562
331,260
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
653 /1k
653 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,803 kt
5,443 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,091
1,106
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
772
798
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
50
28
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
88,021
84,867
Population aged 65+
33,668
32,697
Population aged under 15
19,632
21,062
Median age of population
47.6 yrs
46.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.2%
38.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.2 /1k
2.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
8.7 /1k
Crude death rate
14.0 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
1,185
1,198
Deaths
1,979
1,715
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.6%
63.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.57
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
75 /km²
177 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
161,254
125,030
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.1%
20.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.4%
14.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,033 /100k
1,033 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
242 /100k
242 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
39.5 /100k
39.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
461 /100k
348 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,143 /100k
1,058 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
41 /M
41 /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)
51 m
10 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
49 days/yr
45 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr