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 · DEA2A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Oberbergischer Kreis (Opportunity 66). Runner-up: Warendorf (63). Contrarian pick: Warendorf — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 74).
Why you might not pick Oberbergischer Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — 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 → Oberbergischer Kreis · Residential → Oberbergischer 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
63.2
66.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
67.8
47.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.4
67.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
80.0
85.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
33.0
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.2
38.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.0% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.2% 5y
2.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,497
€42,737
Population density
215 /km²
299 /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
€10,698M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€339M
€79M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,225M
€3,760M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,938M
€3,437M
GVA — construction (F)
€484M
€463M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,751M
€1,448M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,000
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,300 PPS
38,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,600
€42,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,727M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,530M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€59,763M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,209M
€2,790M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,189M
€2,158M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,383M
€10,007M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,174
€85,399
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,131M
€1,788M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
141,300
145,050
Self-employed persons
11,780
11,670
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,620
39,590
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
79.1%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
4.6%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
150,100
139,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,655
10,023
Enterprise births
761
754
Enterprise deaths
765
786
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.1%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.3%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.7%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.6%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.7%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
399,048
457,173
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
590 /1k
585 /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
2,608
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,481 kt
7,980 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
737
952
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
33
33
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
176,872
170,712
Population aged 65+
64,339
62,452
Population aged under 15
41,428
40,893
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
46.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.4%
36.6%
Crude rate of total population change
1.5 /1k
0.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.2 /1k
4.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
12.6 /1k
Live births
2,395
2,330
Deaths
3,146
3,460
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
60.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
214 /km²
301 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
287,694
273,154
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.5%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
18.3%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,053 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
31.9 /100k
26.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
249 /100k
171 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,031 /100k
855 /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
363 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
42 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
7 days/yr