NUTS-3 DEF05 · Germany
Population
133,4602025
GDP
€6,086M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
80.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,420.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEF05 · DEC05
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
46.7
49.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
40.3
45.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.7
54.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
53.3
62.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
35.5
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
25.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.1% 5y
0.6% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.7% 5y
7.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€45,602
€47,562
Population density
94 /km²
342 /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)
€5,559M
€6,260M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€248M
€12M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,985M
€2,113M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,149M
€2,003M
GVA — construction (F)
€319M
€323M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€869M
€1,209M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€28,800
€25,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,700 PPS
42,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€45,700
€47,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€27,063M
€8,110M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,460M
€1,529M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€61,661M
€23,975M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€970M
€1,091M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,168M
€1,513M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,041M
€5,691M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€102,533
€83,793
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,367M
€1,332M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
63,660
85,990
Self-employed persons
7,030
5,770
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,340
21,710
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.3%
77.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.0%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
68,200
71,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,348
5,323
Enterprise births
461
420
Enterprise deaths
433
462
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.0%
4.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.8%
28.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
32.4%
29.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.2%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.5%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.6%
7.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,011,217
221,283
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
593 /1k
646 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,081 kt
3,849 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,081
1,198
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
35 km/1000km²
94 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
810
831
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
82
76
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
4
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
81,190
87,425
Population aged 65+
35,084
38,740
Population aged under 15
17,186
17,927
Median age of population
50.2 yrs
49.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.2%
44.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.4 /1k
-2.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.3 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
14.4 /1k
14.8 /1k
Live births
899
1,055
Deaths
1,925
2,133
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.4%
64.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
96 /km²
345 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
117,160
125,352
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.9%
22.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.8 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.8%
15.5%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,015 /100k
1,123 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
251 /100k
243 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.8 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
30.7 /100k
22.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
283 /100k
207 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,123 /100k
863 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
29 /M
24 /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)
1 m
383 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
10 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr