NUTS-3 DEC03 · Germany
Population
133,1792025
GDP
€3,969M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
252.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC03 · DEA44
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Höxter (Opportunity 47). Runner-up: Neunkirchen (43). Contrarian pick: Neunkirchen — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 58).
#1Höxter
Strengths
Demographic outlook (96) · Freight intensity (80)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Connectivity (65) · Demographic outlook (59)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Höxter
Long-run slide: down 12 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 25) — Neunkirchen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Höxter 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
43.4
46.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
53.8
62.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
47.1
58.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
38.5
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.3
78.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
36.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
29.4
29.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.7% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
13.6% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€29,802
€33,734
Population density
528 /km²
116 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,625M
€4,291M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€6M
€139M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€835M
€985M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€693M
€783M
GVA — construction (F)
€287M
€278M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€698M
€758M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€28,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,500 PPS
30,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€29,700
€33,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€18,145M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€5,057M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€52,413M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€852M
€934M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€948M
€1,197M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,296M
€3,959M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€76,631
€76,961
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€772M
€899M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
54,460
64,260
Self-employed persons
4,400
6,250
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,100
12,480
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
66,300
74,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,031
4,813
Enterprise births
320
333
Enterprise deaths
401
370
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
3.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
30.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
33.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
21.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
8.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
69,548
483,777
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
632 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,926 kt
6,226 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,090
1,304
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
818
936
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.
66
32
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
81,681
85,527
Population aged 65+
34,241
34,636
Population aged under 15
17,257
19,089
Median age of population
48.9 yrs
48.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.9%
40.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.7 /1k
1.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.3 /1k
6.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
15.8 /1k
13.2 /1k
Live births
1,044
1,155
Deaths
2,105
1,838
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.0%
62.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.63
Population density (persons per km²)
534 /km²
116 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
126,409
157,561
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
16.9%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
1,001 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
234 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
1.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
51.6 /100k
20.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
254 /100k
160 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,250 /100k
984 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
38 /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)
303 m
246 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr