NUTS-3 DEA18 · Germany
Population
113,8282025
GDP
€4,899M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
73.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA18 · DEA55
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 57). Runner-up: Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt (54). Contrarian pick: Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Industrial base (93) · Connectivity (79)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 20) — Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Herne, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Remscheid, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
54.4
57.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
48.3
39.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.1
45.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
79.3
74.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
43.8
28.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
37.4
54.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.8% 5y
6.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€43,041
€33,542
Population density
1,554 /km²
3,070 /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)
€4,475M
€4,775M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€5M
€1M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,620M
€1,052M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,512M
€480M
GVA — construction (F)
€180M
€294M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€728M
€988M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,100
€26,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
38,300 PPS
29,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€43,000
€33,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€40,936M
€29,556M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,526M
€4,134M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€145,544M
€86,336M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€965M
€912M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€978M
€1,528M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,120M
€4,401M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,002
€83,536
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€768M
€1,024M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
61,550
66,100
Self-employed persons
4,600
4,760
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,170
5,820
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.8%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
8.1%
9.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.9%
4.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
57,500
76,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,896
3,984
Enterprise births
293
425
Enterprise deaths
296
412
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.9%
5.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
27.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.9%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.6%
9.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.3%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.7%
7.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
68,876
61,680
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
567 /1k
603 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
686
601
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,318 kt
4,139 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
603
386
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
34
28
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
6
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
72,387
98,900
Population aged 65+
25,377
34,436
Population aged under 15
16,064
22,515
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
44.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.1%
34.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.0 /1k
-1.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.1 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
14.9 /1k
Live births
943
1,392
Deaths
1,416
2,324
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.2%
57.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.46
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
1,540 /km²
3,059 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
107,008
152,420
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.6%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.4 yrs
80.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.5%
19.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,075 /100k
1,106 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
254 /100k
256 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
42.1 /100k
78.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
267 /100k
592 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,247 /100k
2,017 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
22 /M
23 /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)
345 m
66 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
54 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
3 days/yr