NUTS-3 DEA41 · Germany
Population
331,6052025
GDP
€18,054M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
260.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA41 · DE271
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Bielefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Augsburg, Kreisfreie Stadt (61). Contrarian pick: Augsburg, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Economic base (89)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 30% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Why you might not pick Bielefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Augsburg, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Bielefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Augsburg, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Bielefeld, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Bielefeld, 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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
62.9
61.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
62.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.4
58.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
45.3
48.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
64.7
52.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.3
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.2
27.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
0.4% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.1% 5y
5.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€54,443
€55,442
Population density
1,273 /km²
2,009 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€16,490M
€15,248M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€16M
€15M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,696M
€3,281M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,172M
€2,614M
GVA — construction (F)
€556M
€475M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,811M
€3,104M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
48,500 PPS
49,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€54,500
€56,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€18,145M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,057M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,413M
€49,117M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€4,091M
€3,840M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,320M
€4,533M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,215M
€14,244M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€85,362
€87,729
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,456M
€3,798M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
222,640
199,150
Self-employed persons
14,000
13,530
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,550
27,270
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
188,600
182,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,744
11,216
Enterprise births
946
1,085
Enterprise deaths
973
1,013
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
4.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.6%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.1%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.3%
9.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
572,732
1,177,702
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
632 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,272 kt
4,797 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,455
818
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
439
272
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
45
64
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)
216,817
202,262
Population aged 65+
67,444
58,990
Population aged under 15
47,344
39,853
Median age of population
42.2 yrs
41.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.1%
29.2%
Crude rate of total population change
0.3 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.2 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.4 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.3 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
3,108
2,766
Deaths
3,761
3,150
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.9%
48.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.37
1.25
Population density (persons per km²)
1,280 /km²
2,041 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
349,734
296,359
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.9%
11.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,001 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
234 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
108 /100k
51.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
407 /100k
235 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,106 /100k
1,296 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
39 /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)
112 m
494 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
46 days/yr
86 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
5 days/yr