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 · DEA2A
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Oberbergischer Kreis (Opportunity 66). 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 Oberbergischer Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Herford may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Oberbergischer 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
66.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
60.8
47.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.9
67.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
66.7
85.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.3
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.8
38.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.5% 5y
2.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€39,918
€42,737
Population density
567 /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)
€9,276M
€10,698M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€45M
€79M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,045M
€3,760M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,780M
€3,437M
GVA — construction (F)
€477M
€463M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,857M
€1,448M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,000
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,500 PPS
38,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,900
€42,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€18,145M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€5,057M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€52,413M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,893M
€2,790M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,959M
€2,158M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,558M
€10,007M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,285
€85,399
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,944M
€1,788M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
126,830
145,050
Self-employed persons
10,760
11,670
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,890
39,590
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.8%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
138,200
139,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,396
10,023
Enterprise births
751
754
Enterprise deaths
812
786
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
3.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.8%
4.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.4%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.6%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.3%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.1%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.3%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
225,658
457,173
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
632 /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.
1,890
2,608
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,194 kt
7,980 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
743
952
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
61
33
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
158,825
170,712
Population aged 65+
59,291
62,452
Population aged under 15
36,288
40,893
Median age of population
46.8 yrs
46.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.3%
36.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.7 /1k
0.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.7 /1k
4.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
12.4 /1k
12.6 /1k
Live births
2,025
2,330
Deaths
3,168
3,460
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.2%
60.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.56
Population density (persons per km²)
566 /km²
301 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
244,535
273,154
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.9%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,001 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
234 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
40.9 /100k
26.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
171 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,100 /100k
855 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
38 /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)
97 m
363 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
48 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
7 days/yr