NUTS-3 DEF02 · Germany
Population
252,6682025
GDP
€14,647M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
109.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEF02 · DEB35
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 74). Runner-up: Kiel, Kreisfreie Stadt (55). Contrarian pick: Kiel, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 65).
Why you might not pick Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 26) — Kiel, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Mainz, Kreisfreie Stadt 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
54.6
74.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
57.8
41.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.7
56.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
51.7
28.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
39.7
72.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
35.5
57.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
39.8
68.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.2% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
4.8% 5y
5.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€57,970
€87,601
Population density
2,298 /km²
2,311 /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)
€13,379M
€17,978M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
€23M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,007M
€2,610M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,632M
€2,083M
GVA — construction (F)
€359M
€344M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,323M
€3,716M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,800
€27,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
52,000 PPS
78,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€58,400
€88,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,063M
€20,699M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,460M
€4,472M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€61,661M
€49,098M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,621M
€6,982M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,065M
€4,303M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€12,131M
€16,724M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€86,880
€123,400
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,290M
€4,230M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
180,810
167,060
Self-employed persons
10,480
9,940
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,360
10,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
81.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.0%
6.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
4.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,800
133,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,637
8,341
Enterprise births
738
722
Enterprise deaths
691
734
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
5.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.0%
6.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
36.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
41.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
10.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.5%
25.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
9.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,108,564
1,159,125
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
621 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,859 kt
4,611 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
827
759
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
327
338
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
80
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
172,470
156,299
Population aged 65+
49,169
40,470
Population aged under 15
31,029
27,915
Median age of population
40.1 yrs
38.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.5%
25.9%
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
3.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.4 /1k
3.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.2 /1k
8.9 /1k
Crude death rate
11.0 /1k
8.9 /1k
Live births
2,080
2,005
Deaths
2,772
2,003
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
46.5%
43.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.08
1.09
Population density (persons per km²)
2,156 /km²
2,361 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
238,919
203,053
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
23.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
81.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
16.8%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
1,015 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
231 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.9 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
112 /100k
44.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,620 /100k
259 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,782 /100k
1,473 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
25 /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)
28 m
153 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
16 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
49 days/yr
51 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr