NUTS-3 DEC04 · Germany
Population
205,1292025
GDP
€7,897M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
457.8 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC04 · DE734
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Kassel, Landkreis (Opportunity 56). Runner-up: Saarlouis (51). Contrarian pick: Saarlouis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 97).
Why you might not pick Kassel, Landkreis
Its weakest dimension is Resilience (EU pctl 23) — Saarlouis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Saarlouis · Manufacturing → Kassel, Landkreis · Office → Saarlouis · Residential → Saarlouis.
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
51.2
55.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
39.0
22.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
48.9
60.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.0
89.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.0
82.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
29.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
35.8
35.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
2.7% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.1% 5y
2.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€38,496
€39,181
Population density
448 /km²
178 /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)
€7,213M
€8,270M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€16M
€66M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,005M
€3,451M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,838M
€3,203M
GVA — construction (F)
€267M
€287M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,108M
€1,436M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€26,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,200 PPS
35,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€38,300
€39,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€11,649M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€1,829M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€32,339M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,430M
€1,684M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,387M
€1,347M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,557M
€7,908M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€88,895
€95,559
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,535M
€1,908M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
93,400
100,780
Self-employed persons
7,410
8,870
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,370
28,940
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
80.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
102,100
117,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,942
7,251
Enterprise births
631
582
Enterprise deaths
660
642
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
3.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
0.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
30.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
31.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
8.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
20.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
8.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
174,220
681,344
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
642 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,226
1,552
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,699 kt
9,795 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
598
672
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.
49
1
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
125,688
139,410
Population aged 65+
53,133
60,200
Population aged under 15
26,308
31,463
Median age of population
48.9 yrs
49.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.3%
43.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.7 /1k
1.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.8 /1k
8.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.1 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
13.6 /1k
14.1 /1k
Live births
1,467
1,713
Deaths
2,792
3,251
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.2%
65.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.32
1.46
Population density (persons per km²)
449 /km²
179 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
221,808
197,066
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
24.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
19.2%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
1,078 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
227 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
38.8 /100k
16.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
241 /100k
272 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,207 /100k
656 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
47 /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)
205 m
256 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
66 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr