NUTS-3 DEA56 · Germany
Population
314,1672025
GDP
€11,342M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
414.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEA56 · DEA2B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (Opportunity 64). Runner-up: Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis (59). Contrarian pick: Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 80).
Strengths
Connectivity (89) · Talent & skills (70)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 9) — Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis · Manufacturing → Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis · Office → Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis · Residential → Rheinisch-Bergischer 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
59.2
64.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.3
58.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.4
65.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
63.7
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
81.3
89.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.0
70.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
24.2
39.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.3% 5y
2.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,101
€32,205
Population density
758 /km²
652 /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)
€10,360M
€8,362M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€28M
€32M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,021M
€1,617M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,686M
€1,478M
GVA — construction (F)
€403M
€460M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,881M
€1,613M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€26,700
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,100 PPS
28,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,000
€32,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€29,556M
€34,670M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,134M
€6,008M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€86,336M
€125,036M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,374M
€2,382M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,652M
€2,258M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,549M
€7,822M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€80,603
€84,759
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,221M
€1,398M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,630
114,230
Self-employed persons
13,050
12,670
Employment in manufacturing (C)
34,400
16,730
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.5%
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
149,400
143,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,726
12,226
Enterprise births
956
962
Enterprise deaths
943
1,070
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.3%
3.6%
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
1.1%
2.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.3%
38.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
46.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.7%
11.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
27.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.2%
10.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
292,028
252,502
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
603 /1k
585 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,711 kt
3,115 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,982
2,018
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
631
710
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
30
16
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
6
5
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
193,505
175,472
Population aged 65+
78,569
68,994
Population aged under 15
42,093
39,807
Median age of population
48.6 yrs
48.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.6%
39.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.9 /1k
2.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
7.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
7.9 /1k
Crude death rate
14.1 /1k
12.6 /1k
Live births
2,458
2,256
Deaths
4,427
3,579
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.4%
62.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.40
1.50
Population density (persons per km²)
773 /km²
656 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
290,415
259,818
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.6%
23.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.1 yrs
81.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.6%
17.0%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,106 /100k
1,020 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
256 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
41.9 /100k
32.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
372 /100k
216 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,135 /100k
933 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
23 /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)
212 m
196 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
45 days/yr
47 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
6 days/yr