NUTS-3 DEA2A · Germany
Population
274,0572025
GDP
€11,712M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
917.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA2A · DEA43
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Oberbergischer Kreis (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Herford (58). Contrarian pick: Herford — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 72).
#2Herford
Strengths
Industrial base (88) · Labour market (72)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 17 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Oberbergischer Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Herford may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Oberbergischer Kreis 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
66.4
58.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.0
60.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
67.3
60.9
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
85.7
66.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.3
36.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
38.4
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€42,737
€39,918
Population density
299 /km²
567 /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)
€10,698M
€9,276M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€79M
€45M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,760M
€3,045M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,437M
€2,780M
GVA — construction (F)
€463M
€477M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,448M
€1,857M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
38,100 PPS
35,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,800
€39,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€34,670M
€18,145M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,008M
€5,057M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€125,036M
€52,413M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,790M
€1,893M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,158M
€1,959M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€10,007M
€8,558M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,399
€84,285
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,788M
€1,944M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
145,050
126,830
Self-employed persons
11,670
10,760
Employment in manufacturing (C)
39,590
34,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
139,800
138,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,023
9,396
Enterprise births
754
751
Enterprise deaths
786
812
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
3.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.0%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.3%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.8%
30.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.1%
33.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
21.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
8.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
457,173
225,658
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
585 /1k
632 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,608
1,890
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,980 kt
6,194 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
952
743
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
61
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
170,712
158,825
Population aged 65+
62,452
59,291
Population aged under 15
40,893
36,288
Median age of population
46.3 yrs
46.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.6%
37.3%
Crude rate of total population change
0.3 /1k
-0.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.5 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
12.6 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
2,330
2,025
Deaths
3,460
3,168
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.5%
60.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.56
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
301 /km²
566 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
273,154
244,535
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.7%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.0%
16.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,020 /100k
1,001 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
234 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
26.6 /100k
40.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
171 /100k
203 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
855 /100k
1,100 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
38 /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)
363 m
97 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
62 days/yr
48 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
2 days/yr