NUTS-3 DED21 · Germany
Population
564,9042025
GDP
€28,833M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
84.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
329.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DED21 · DE254
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Nürnberg, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt (59). Contrarian pick: Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Economic base (96) · Labour market (86)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Nürnberg, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 12) — Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Nürnberg, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Nürnberg, Kreisfreie Stadt · Office → Nürnberg, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Dresden, Kreisfreie Stadt.
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
59.4
67.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
47.8
59.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.8
57.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
31.3
30.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.7
71.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
48.3
62.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.8
48.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.9% 5y
4.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€51,041
€72,955
Population density
1,716 /km²
2,818 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 83 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€26,336M
€35,285M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€20M
€37M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€4,641M
€5,932M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,827M
€5,105M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,219M
€1,273M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,631M
€9,732M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,500
€30,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
45,800 PPS
65,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€51,300
€73,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€12,678M
€21,016M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,549M
€3,272M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€35,145M
€54,755M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,401M
€10,823M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€8,424M
€7,487M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€24,397M
€33,468M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€87,348
€99,819
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,857M
€8,312M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
350,030
406,850
Self-employed persons
23,460
25,650
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,920
45,670
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
83.8%
82.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
3.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
296,700
300,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
19,733
20,954
Enterprise births
1,398
1,867
Enterprise deaths
1,632
1,911
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.1%
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.5%
2.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.3%
6.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.8%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.9%
38.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
40.8%
45.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
9.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
24.8%
25.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.6%
11.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,606,893
3,855,241
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
533 /1k
594 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,932
1,827
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,929 kt
14,693 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
342
345
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
7
7
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
362,878
351,658
Population aged 65+
123,808
107,104
Population aged under 15
78,218
70,746
Median age of population
42.0 yrs
42.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
30.5%
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
5.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.5 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.3 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
10.4 /1k
11.0 /1k
Live births
4,097
4,753
Deaths
5,860
5,834
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.7%
50.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.10
1.29
Population density (persons per km²)
1,741 /km²
2,854 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
727,764
533,411
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
17.6%
18.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.1 yrs
81.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.9%
13.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,076 /100k
1,065 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
222 /100k
225 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.2 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
74.4 /100k
59.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
843 /100k
413 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,802 /100k
1,701 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
42 /M
33 /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)
112 m
312 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
75 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr