NUTS-3 DEA26 · Germany
Population
279,2852025
GDP
€9,794M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
941.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA26 · DE716
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Düren (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Darmstadt-Dieburg (64).
#1Düren
Strengths
Connectivity (79) · Resilience (71)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Connectivity (70) · Resilience (65)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Düren
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 17) — Darmstadt-Dieburg may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Düren · Manufacturing → Düren · Office → Düren · Residential → Darmstadt-Dieburg.
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
67.7
64.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
71.0
64.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
62.6
62.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
61.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
79.3
70.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.3
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.0
47.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,068
€33,576
Population density
297 /km²
463 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,946M
€9,263M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€135M
€77M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,016M
€1,693M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,575M
€1,523M
GVA — construction (F)
€504M
€638M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,217M
€2,561M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,400 PPS
30,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,300
€33,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€34,670M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,008M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€125,036M
€137,102M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,832M
€2,647M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,243M
€1,646M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,368M
€9,028M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,830
€95,338
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,495M
€1,974M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
125,040
113,200
Self-employed persons
10,340
11,880
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,080
18,250
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,100
154,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,185
11,275
Enterprise births
745
1,015
Enterprise deaths
841
1,102
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.0%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.3%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.8%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.1%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
570,230
506,968
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
585 /1k
612 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,360 kt
7,317 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,074
1,120
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
743
371
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
44
30
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
175,988
190,795
Population aged 65+
63,045
67,534
Population aged under 15
40,252
43,692
Median age of population
45.6 yrs
46.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.8%
35.4%
Crude rate of total population change
3.0 /1k
-0.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.9 /1k
2.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
2,377
2,357
Deaths
3,474
3,260
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.7%
58.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.47
1.42
Population density (persons per km²)
299 /km²
459 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
228,922
292,433
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.7%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.0%
16.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,020 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
59.6 /100k
16.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
314 /100k
152 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,348 /100k
553 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
27 /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)
125 m
161 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
52 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr