NUTS-3 DEC02 · Germany
Population
108,7792025
GDP
€3,395M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
560.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC02 · DE91B
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Merzig-Wadern (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Wolfenbüttel (45). Contrarian pick: Wolfenbüttel — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 57).
Strengths
Connectivity (76) · Resilience (65)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Merzig-Wadern
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 16 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 12) — Wolfenbüttel may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Merzig-Wadern · Manufacturing → Wolfenbüttel · Office → Wolfenbüttel · Residential → Wolfenbüttel.
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
44.8
44.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
65.3
51.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
49.5
54.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
75.7
53.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
54.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.6
44.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
0.7% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.4% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,211
€26,313
Population density
194 /km²
164 /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)
€3,101M
€2,843M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
€103M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€732M
€637M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€490M
€483M
GVA — construction (F)
€189M
€175M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€695M
€371M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€26,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,700 PPS
23,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,000
€26,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€22,342M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€7,903M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€43,988M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€729M
€666M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€740M
€891M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,819M
€2,692M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€82,500
€86,731
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€660M
€794M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
43,270
38,590
Self-employed persons
3,470
4,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,730
4,230
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
79.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
55,300
60,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,284
3,060
Enterprise births
268
263
Enterprise deaths
318
316
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
5.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
5.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
3.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
34.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
38.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
24.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
10.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
367,490
97,364
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
640 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
859
695
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,654 kt
3,209 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
790
588
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
94 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
34
76
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
68,018
72,494
Population aged 65+
27,013
29,729
Population aged under 15
13,748
16,067
Median age of population
48.8 yrs
49.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.7%
41.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.1 /1k
-2.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.8 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
7.1 /1k
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
706
839
Deaths
1,460
1,588
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.9%
63.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.20
1.37
Population density (persons per km²)
197 /km²
164 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,777
102,526
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
21.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
80.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
16.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
1,055 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.7 /100k
16.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
162 /100k
222 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
777 /100k
921 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /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)
251 m
153 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
59 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr