NUTS-3 DEB31 · Germany
Population
48,1402025
GDP
€2,201M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
44.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEB31 · DE272
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt (46). Contrarian pick: Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 93).
Strengths
Industrial base (81) · Labour market (76)
No red flags
Strengths
Labour market (93) · Economic base (73)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 13 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 26) — Kaufbeuren, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Frankenthal (Pfalz), Kreisfreie Stadt 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
48.5
46.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
54.5
71.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
51.5
60.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
60.0
66.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
57.5
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.6
41.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
0.9% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.0% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,730
€44,586
Population density
1,090 /km²
1,146 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 82 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,011M
€1,881M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€31M
€3M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€600M
€318M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€532M
€287M
GVA — construction (F)
€63M
€178M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€456M
€287M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€27,700
€30,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,800 PPS
40,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,800
€45,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€20,699M
€20,600M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,472M
€3,395M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€49,098M
€49,117M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€408M
€431M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€453M
€665M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,871M
€1,757M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,407
€81,161
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€473M
€469M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
25,790
26,560
Self-employed persons
1,960
2,140
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,830
3,810
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.3%
83.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.4%
4.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
25,300
25,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
1,470
1,723
Enterprise births
121
119
Enterprise deaths
143
135
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
4.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
5.3%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.4%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.1%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.8%
34.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.9%
38.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.1%
7.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.1%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.8%
9.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
93,770
99,877
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
621 /1k
639 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,202 kt
991 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
165
175
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
343
379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
57
31
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
29,649
28,781
Population aged 65+
11,441
10,686
Population aged under 15
7,050
6,726
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.6%
37.1%
Crude rate of total population change
0.7 /1k
2.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.6 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.7 /1k
8.8 /1k
Crude death rate
13.6 /1k
12.2 /1k
Live births
421
406
Deaths
656
565
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.4%
60.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
1.48
Population density (persons per km²)
1,119 /km²
1,153 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
44,543
40,719
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.2%
14.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.2 yrs
82.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
11.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
989 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
231 /100k
211 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.1 /100k
2.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
52.0 /100k
15.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
270 /100k
91.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,453 /100k
851 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
25 /M
39 /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)
96 m
707 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
95 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
9 days/yr