NUTS-3 DEA38 · Germany
Population
282,6392025
GDP
€11,163M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,316.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA38 · DE71E
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Wetteraukreis (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Warendorf (63). Contrarian pick: Warendorf — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 86).
Strengths
Connectivity (72) · Quality of life (65)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Wetteraukreis
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 10) — Warendorf may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Warendorf · Manufacturing → Warendorf · Office → Wetteraukreis · Residential → Warendorf.
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
63.2
65.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
67.8
64.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.4
65.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.0
71.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
33.0
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
48.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.0% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.2% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,497
€36,289
Population density
215 /km²
284 /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)
€10,197M
€10,328M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€339M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,225M
€1,957M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,938M
€1,547M
GVA — construction (F)
€484M
€734M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,751M
€2,608M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,000
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,300 PPS
32,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,600
€36,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,727M
€49,287M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,530M
€7,586M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€59,763M
€137,102M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,209M
€2,678M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,189M
€2,289M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,383M
€10,067M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,174
€93,876
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,131M
€2,201M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
141,300
128,200
Self-employed persons
11,780
13,810
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,620
16,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.1%
78.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.6%
6.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
150,100
159,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,655
12,503
Enterprise births
761
1,197
Enterprise deaths
765
1,232
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
3.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
7.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.1%
37.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.3%
43.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.7%
10.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.6%
26.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.7%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
399,048
508,372
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
590 /1k
612 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,084
1,813
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,481 kt
8,080 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
737
582
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
43
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
176,872
197,001
Population aged 65+
64,339
70,282
Population aged under 15
41,428
44,310
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
46.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.4%
35.7%
Crude rate of total population change
1.5 /1k
2.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.2 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
7.8 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
12.1 /1k
Live births
2,395
2,435
Deaths
3,146
3,774
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
58.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.42
Population density (persons per km²)
214 /km²
283 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
287,694
285,690
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.5%
21.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
82.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.3%
16.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,053 /100k
974 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
31.9 /100k
28.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
249 /100k
261 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,031 /100k
761 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
35 /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)
67 m
139 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
42 days/yr
58 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr