NUTS-3 DEA43 · Germany
Population
254,4042025
GDP
€10,155M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
448.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA43 · DE722
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Lahn-Dill-Kreis (Opportunity 67). Runner-up: Herford (58). Contrarian pick: Herford — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 72).
#2Herford
Strengths
Industrial base (88) · Labour market (72)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 17 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Lahn-Dill-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 36) — Herford may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Lahn-Dill-Kreis leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
58.4
66.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
60.8
47.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.9
60.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
44.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.7
65.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.3
43.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.8
57.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
1.2% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
11.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,918
€43,102
Population density
567 /km²
239 /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)
€9,276M
€10,003M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€45M
€26M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,045M
€3,405M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,780M
€3,182M
GVA — construction (F)
€477M
€529M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,857M
€1,847M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€26,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,500 PPS
38,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,900
€43,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€18,145M
€10,597M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,057M
€1,976M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,413M
€25,139M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,893M
€2,177M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,959M
€2,018M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,558M
€9,522M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,285
€89,762
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,944M
€2,612M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
126,830
129,170
Self-employed persons
10,760
10,450
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,890
35,150
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
138,200
136,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,396
9,193
Enterprise births
751
711
Enterprise deaths
812
798
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
2.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
32.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.6%
38.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
10.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.1%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.3%
7.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
225,658
454,523
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
632 /1k
641 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,194 kt
9,736 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,890
1,727
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
743
680
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
61
70
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)
158,825
158,730
Population aged 65+
59,291
59,223
Population aged under 15
36,288
36,121
Median age of population
46.8 yrs
46.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.3%
37.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.7 /1k
-1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.7 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
13.3 /1k
Live births
2,025
2,061
Deaths
3,168
3,383
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.2%
60.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
566 /km²
239 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
244,535
245,338
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
24.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.9%
18.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,001 /100k
1,062 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
234 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.9 /100k
26.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
161 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,100 /100k
884 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /M
31 /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)
97 m
192 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
8 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
48 days/yr
53 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr