NUTS-3 DE947 · Germany
Population
188,8162025
GDP
€6,582M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,278.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DE947 · DEC04
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saarlouis (Opportunity 51). Runner-up: Aurich (50). Contrarian pick: Aurich — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 82).
Why you might not pick Saarlouis
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 24) — Aurich may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Saarlouis 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
50.4
51.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
66.3
39.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.6
48.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
67.0
55.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
57.3
65.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
34.0
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.8
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.3% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.6% 5y
8.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,860
€38,496
Population density
148 /km²
448 /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)
€6,012M
€7,213M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€255M
€16M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€962M
€3,005M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€500M
€2,838M
GVA — construction (F)
€418M
€267M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,213M
€1,108M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,000
€25,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,100 PPS
34,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,900
€38,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€31,047M
€8,110M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,687M
€1,529M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€59,034M
€23,975M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,635M
€1,430M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,528M
€1,387M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,478M
€6,557M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€80,049
€88,895
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,772M
€1,535M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
87,020
93,400
Self-employed persons
8,170
7,410
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,430
22,370
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.8%
77.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
5.6%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.9%
4.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
100,600
102,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,627
6,942
Enterprise births
516
631
Enterprise deaths
509
660
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.8%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.2%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.8%
28.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
38.2%
29.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.4%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.9%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.5%
7.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,987,879
174,220
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
623 /1k
646 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,137 kt
8,699 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,572
1,226
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
833
598
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
94 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
68
49
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)
116,315
125,688
Population aged 65+
47,461
53,133
Population aged under 15
25,040
26,308
Median age of population
49.4 yrs
48.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.8%
42.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.8 /1k
-4.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.9 /1k
1.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude death rate
14.4 /1k
13.6 /1k
Live births
1,458
1,467
Deaths
2,718
2,792
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.3%
63.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.32
Population density (persons per km²)
148 /km²
449 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
172,871
221,808
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
26.3%
22.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.6 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
20.8%
15.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,034 /100k
1,123 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
243 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
34.4 /100k
38.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
241 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,004 /100k
1,207 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
54 /M
24 /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)
3 m
205 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
53 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr