NUTS-3 DEC05 · Germany
Population
144,0922025
GDP
€6,853M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
421.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEC05 · DEF05
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Saarpfalz-Kreis (Opportunity 49). Runner-up: Dithmarschen (47). Contrarian pick: Dithmarschen — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 98).
Why you might not pick Saarpfalz-Kreis
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 18) — Dithmarschen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Saarpfalz-Kreis 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
49.4
46.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
40.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.1
55.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
62.7
53.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
35.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
25.6
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.6% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.0% 5y
1.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€47,562
€45,602
Population density
342 /km²
94 /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)
€6,260M
€5,559M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€12M
€248M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,113M
€1,985M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,003M
€1,149M
GVA — construction (F)
€323M
€319M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,209M
€869M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,000
€28,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,300 PPS
40,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,400
€45,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€8,110M
€27,063M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,529M
€2,460M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,975M
€61,661M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,091M
€970M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,513M
€1,168M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,691M
€5,041M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,793
€102,533
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,332M
€1,367M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
85,990
63,660
Self-employed persons
5,770
7,030
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,710
7,340
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.9%
80.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
—
6.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
71,000
68,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,323
5,348
Enterprise births
420
461
Enterprise deaths
462
433
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.6%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.6%
4.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.1%
31.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
29.6%
32.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
21.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.1%
8.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
221,283
2,011,217
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
646 /1k
593 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,849 kt
10,081 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,198
1,081
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
94 km/1000km²
35 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
831
810
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
76
82
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
4
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
87,425
81,190
Population aged 65+
38,740
35,084
Population aged under 15
17,927
17,186
Median age of population
49.9 yrs
50.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.3%
43.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.7 /1k
-0.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
4.8 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
14.8 /1k
14.4 /1k
Live births
1,055
899
Deaths
2,133
1,925
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.8%
64.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
345 /km²
96 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
125,352
117,160
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
22.2%
20.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
80.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
15.5%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,123 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
243 /100k
251 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
22.1 /100k
30.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
207 /100k
283 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
863 /100k
1,123 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
24 /M
29 /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)
383 m
1 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
62 days/yr
47 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr