NUTS-3 DEA2B · Germany
Population
284,2732025
GDP
€9,155M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
436 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA2B · DEF0B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Rendsburg-Eckernförde (54). Contrarian pick: Rendsburg-Eckernförde — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 65).
Strengths
Connectivity (89) · Talent & skills (70)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 9) — Rendsburg-Eckernförde may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Rendsburg-Eckernförde · Manufacturing → Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis · Office → Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis · Residential → Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis.
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
64.4
54.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
58.3
61.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.4
60.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
89.0
51.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
70.3
35.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.2
45.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.2% 5y
7.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€32,205
€37,529
Population density
652 /km²
128 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,362M
€9,532M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€32M
€242M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,617M
€1,515M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,478M
€883M
GVA — construction (F)
€460M
€786M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,613M
€2,236M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€28,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,800 PPS
33,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,300
€37,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€34,670M
€27,063M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€6,008M
€2,460M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€125,036M
€61,661M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,382M
€2,091M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,258M
€2,660M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,822M
€8,643M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,759
€88,596
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,398M
€2,344M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
114,230
126,320
Self-employed persons
12,670
13,180
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,730
11,240
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
6.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
143,700
143,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,226
9,812
Enterprise births
962
797
Enterprise deaths
1,070
796
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
4.0%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.3%
4.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.4%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.8%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
46.1%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
27.8%
21.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.5%
8.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
252,502
1,856,957
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
585 /1k
593 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,115 kt
9,457 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,018
1,900
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
710
683
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
35 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
16
78
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
175,472
170,785
Population aged 65+
68,994
68,994
Population aged under 15
39,807
38,279
Median age of population
48.6 yrs
49.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.3%
40.4%
Crude rate of total population change
2.3 /1k
0.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.0 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
6.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.6 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
2,256
1,922
Deaths
3,579
3,587
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.0%
62.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.37
Population density (persons per km²)
656 /km²
130 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
259,818
228,603
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.7%
20.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.3 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.0%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,020 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
32.4 /100k
25.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
216 /100k
259 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
933 /100k
808 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
27 /M
29 /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)
196 m
13 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
48 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
2 days/yr