NUTS-3 DEA31 · Germany
Population
118,5352025
GDP
€3,446M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
98.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA31 · DEC02
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Merzig-Wadern (45). Contrarian pick: Merzig-Wadern — leads the set on Connectivity (EU pctl 76).
Strengths
Connectivity (76) · Resilience (65)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 25) — Merzig-Wadern may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Merzig-Wadern · Office → Bottrop, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Bottrop, 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
51.9
44.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
55.0
65.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.6
49.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
31.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.0
75.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
33.0
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
43.8
39.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.2% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.1% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,074
€31,211
Population density
1,205 /km²
194 /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)
€3,148M
€3,101M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€22M
€17M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€572M
€732M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€466M
€490M
GVA — construction (F)
€252M
€189M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€524M
€695M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,000
€25,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,900 PPS
27,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,100
€31,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,727M
€8,110M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,530M
€1,529M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€59,763M
€23,975M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€819M
€729M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€960M
€740M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,897M
€2,819M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,112
€82,500
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€658M
€660M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
46,440
43,270
Self-employed persons
3,860
3,470
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,480
6,730
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.1%
77.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.6%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
4.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
62,200
55,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,433
3,284
Enterprise births
306
268
Enterprise deaths
321
318
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.1%
28.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.3%
29.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.7%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.6%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.7%
7.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
69,520
367,490
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
590 /1k
646 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,293 kt
2,654 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
527
859
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
445
790
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.
33
34
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
73,323
68,018
Population aged 65+
28,840
27,013
Population aged under 15
16,372
13,748
Median age of population
47.4 yrs
48.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.3%
39.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.2 /1k
-5.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.6 /1k
1.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude death rate
13.1 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
983
706
Deaths
1,552
1,460
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
61.7%
59.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.47
1.20
Population density (persons per km²)
1,187 /km²
197 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
107,602
95,777
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.5%
22.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.3%
15.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,053 /100k
1,123 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
243 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
45.4 /100k
13.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
557 /100k
162 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,359 /100k
777 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
35 /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)
64 m
251 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
55 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
5 days/yr