NUTS-3 DEE02 · Germany
Population
226,7672025
GDP
€9,179M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
136.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEE02 · DE114
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Göppingen (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Halle (Saale), Kreisfreie Stadt (44). Contrarian pick: Halle (Saale), Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 82).
Strengths
Labour market (85) · Industrial base (84)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Strengths
Demographic outlook (82) · Connectivity (63)
Red flags
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Long-run slide: down 14 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
Why you might not pick Göppingen
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Long-run slide: down 18 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 6) — Halle (Saale), Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Göppingen 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
43.6
60.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
33.0
61.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
35.1
70.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
35.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
63.0
71.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
14.0
60.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
25.4
26.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.5% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.6% 5y
1.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€40,477
€37,560
Population density
1,659 /km²
405 /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)
€8,384M
€8,879M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€3M
€62M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€813M
€2,649M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€446M
€2,449M
GVA — construction (F)
€440M
€763M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,602M
€1,638M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,800
€30,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,900 PPS
33,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€40,300
€37,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€15,488M
€60,881M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,294M
€22,211M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€40,875M
€139,588M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,985M
€2,002M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,542M
€1,765M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,349M
€8,426M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€75,694
€86,167
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,845M
€2,150M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
127,700
118,770
Self-employed persons
7,480
10,710
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,740
29,840
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
82.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.7%
6.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.8%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
113,600
143,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,245
9,788
Enterprise births
443
841
Enterprise deaths
528
888
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
4.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
7.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.4%
5.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
4.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
25.4%
38.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
28.9%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.4%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
16.9%
26.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.5%
11.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
428,548
493,394
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
573 /1k
636 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,462 kt
5,729 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
786
1,210
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
347
468
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
26 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
38
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)
141,518
161,900
Population aged 65+
55,561
58,779
Population aged under 15
29,688
38,130
Median age of population
43.7 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.3%
36.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.8 /1k
-1.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.3 /1k
1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
14.1 /1k
12.0 /1k
Live births
1,807
2,231
Deaths
3,196
3,107
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.2%
59.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.26
1.51
Population density (persons per km²)
1,696 /km²
404 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
232,513
264,734
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
17.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.5 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
12.6%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,223 /100k
938 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
276 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.6 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
167 /100k
23.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,114 /100k
186 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,386 /100k
755 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
52 /M
27 /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)
96 m
556 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
77 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
6 days/yr