NUTS-3 DEB15 · Germany
Population
82,6112025
GDP
€2,892M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
778.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEB15 · DE91B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Birkenfeld (Opportunity 51). Runner-up: Wolfenbüttel (45).
Why you might not pick Birkenfeld
Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 21) — Wolfenbüttel may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Birkenfeld 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
50.9
44.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
64.3
51.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.3
54.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
97.5
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
82.3
53.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.0
54.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.2
44.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
13.2% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,003
€26,313
Population density
106 /km²
164 /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)
€2,641M
€2,843M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€26M
€103M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€594M
€637M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€444M
€483M
GVA — construction (F)
€200M
€175M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€327M
€371M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,600
€26,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,200 PPS
23,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,100
€26,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,756M
€22,342M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,010M
€7,903M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€33,032M
€43,988M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€602M
€666M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€894M
€891M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,464M
€2,692M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,718
€86,731
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€632M
€794M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
38,640
38,590
Self-employed persons
3,470
4,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,360
4,230
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.8%
79.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.0%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
42,900
60,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,943
3,060
Enterprise births
205
263
Enterprise deaths
241
316
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.0%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
3.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.7%
34.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.2%
38.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.0%
9.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
24.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
10.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
342,434
97,364
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
660 /1k
640 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,855 kt
3,209 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
665
695
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
805
588
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
24
76
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
50,394
72,494
Population aged 65+
21,195
29,729
Population aged under 15
11,022
16,067
Median age of population
48.5 yrs
49.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.1%
41.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.1 /1k
-2.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.7 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude death rate
15.1 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
681
839
Deaths
1,246
1,588
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.9%
63.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.57
1.37
Population density (persons per km²)
107 /km²
164 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
77,066
102,526
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.2%
21.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.9 yrs
80.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.8%
16.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,059 /100k
1,055 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
242 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.9 /100k
16.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
177 /100k
222 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
856 /100k
921 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
39 /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)
334 m
153 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
6 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
59 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr