NUTS-3 DEB21 · Germany
Population
104,3422025
GDP
€5,906M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
2%2019
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
116.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEB21 · DE129
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Pforzheim, Stadtkreis (Opportunity 63). Runner-up: Trier, Kreisfreie Stadt (52). Contrarian pick: Trier, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Demographic outlook (100) · Economic base (90)
Red flags
Flood: 28% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Why you might not pick Pforzheim, Stadtkreis
Its weakest dimension is Freight intensity (EU pctl 16) — Trier, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Trier, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Pforzheim, Stadtkreis · Office → Pforzheim, Stadtkreis · Residential → Trier, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
52.3
63.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.3
66.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
60.2
72.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
53.7
66.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
69.3
74.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
30.8
68.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.8
46.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
1.3% 5y
1.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
12.9% 5y
8.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€56,603
€48,242
Population density
894 /km²
1,359 /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)
€5,395M
€5,945M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
€8M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€988M
€1,855M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€761M
€1,720M
GVA — construction (F)
€181M
€215M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,136M
€1,173M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,600
€29,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
50,800 PPS
43,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€57,000
€48,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€5,179M
€31,701M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€716M
€6,099M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€10,498M
€83,032M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,029M
€1,278M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,051M
€1,417M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,980M
€5,645M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€80,341
€89,127
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,529M
€1,363M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,180
77,430
Self-employed persons
5,050
5,610
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,990
15,800
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.2%
81.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
5.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
2.6%
3.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
57,900
70,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,935
4,873
Enterprise births
300
428
Enterprise deaths
320
449
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
5.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
3.2%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
—
9.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
3.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
32.2%
40.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.2%
45.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.2%
27.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.7%
13.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
852,807
237,136
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
667 /1k
597 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
550
818
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,266 kt
1,894 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
527
606
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
36
43
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
70,830
87,139
Population aged 65+
20,435
27,093
Population aged under 15
13,077
20,680
Median age of population
40.8 yrs
41.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.9%
31.1%
Crude rate of total population change
3.4 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.5 /1k
0.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
9.4 /1k
Crude death rate
11.5 /1k
10.8 /1k
Live births
869
1,268
Deaths
1,193
1,460
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.3%
54.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.12
1.44
Population density (persons per km²)
914 /km²
1,378 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
182,388
134,813
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
25.8%
20.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.4%
14.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
986 /100k
980 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
216 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.9 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
92.3 /100k
48.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
427 /100k
305 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,520 /100k
1,466 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
36 /M
26 /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)
133 m
356 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
9 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
59 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr