NUTS-3 DEB12 · Germany
Population
129,3532025
GDP
€4,317M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
782.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEB12 · AT226
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ahrweiler (Opportunity 55). Runner-up: Westliche Obersteiermark (41). Contrarian pick: Westliche Obersteiermark — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Freight intensity (98) · Industrial base (82)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ahrweiler
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 21) — Westliche Obersteiermark may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Ahrweiler · Manufacturing → Westliche Obersteiermark · Office → Westliche Obersteiermark · Residential → Ahrweiler.
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
54.6
40.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
67.8
59.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.8
59.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
49.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
76.7
42.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.0
66.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.4
35.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.4% 5y
2.5% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.9% 5y
2.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,372
€41,600
Population density
165 /km²
32 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,943M
€3,681M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€43M
€180M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€763M
€1,160M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€658M
€976M
GVA — construction (F)
€336M
€250M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€887M
€677M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,600
€30,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
30,000 PPS
36,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€33,700
€41,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,756M
€15,264M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,010M
€3,445M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€33,032M
€31,076M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€918M
€657M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€996M
€756M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,678M
€3,599M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,960
€104,802
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€943M
€1,045M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
54,740
42,500
Self-employed persons
6,150
6,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,990
9,100
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.8%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
11.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.8%
5.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
66,800
47,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,358
5,328
Enterprise births
454
336
Enterprise deaths
445
236
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
2.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.0%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
5.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
3.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.7%
34.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.2%
43.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.0%
16.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
23.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
10.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
—
94.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
836,944
1,483,584
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
660 /1k
626 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,526 kt
7,505 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
861
—
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
666
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
19 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
61
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
78,475
60,502
Population aged 65+
33,561
25,253
Population aged under 15
17,317
12,659
Median age of population
49.1 yrs
49.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.8%
41.7%
Crude rate of total population change
6.3 /1k
-2.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
11.1 /1k
3.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
13.6 /1k
Live births
992
748
Deaths
1,613
1,343
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.8%
62.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
165 /km²
32 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
114,390
76,789
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.2%
18.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.8%
15.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
723 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
954 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
242 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.3 /100k
4.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
199 /100k
151 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
826 /100k
499 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
1.74
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
1.40
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
1.64
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
1.37
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.60
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
€0.156/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
€0.049/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
428 m
1,095 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
64 days/yr
155 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
8 days/yr