NUTS-3 DEG01 · Germany
Population
218,7932025
GDP
€10,859M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
270.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEG01 · DEE03
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Magdeburg, Kreisfreie Stadt (49). Contrarian pick: Magdeburg, Kreisfreie Stadt — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 58).
Strengths
Economic base (81) · Labour market (67)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (67) · Freight intensity (58)
Red flags
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Erfurt, Kreisfreie Stadt
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 11) — Magdeburg, Kreisfreie Stadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Erfurt, 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
52.2
48.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
51.8
50.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.7
35.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
46.7
34.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
65.3
40.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.5
14.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.2
39.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.0% 5y
0.9% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.9% 5y
2.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€49,632
€42,321
Population density
810 /km²
1,229 /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)
€9,919M
€9,445M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€49M
€11M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,206M
€888M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€667M
€485M
GVA — construction (F)
€468M
€595M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,346M
€1,942M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,200
€24,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
44,100 PPS
38,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€49,500
€42,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,609M
€15,488M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,167M
€2,294M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€42,299M
€40,875M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,230M
€2,277M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,620M
€3,732M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,168M
€8,279M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€79,401
€77,257
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,091M
€2,079M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
144,520
140,950
Self-employed persons
10,080
8,540
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,950
7,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.7%
6.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
114,900
123,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,277
7,098
Enterprise births
485
539
Enterprise deaths
595
575
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.4%
3.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.6%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.4%
25.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.6%
28.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
7.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
16.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
6.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,067,721
767,773
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
568 /1k
573 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,072 kt
7,772 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
679
780
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
26 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
310
319
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
4
89
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
139,352
154,220
Population aged 65+
51,312
59,558
Population aged under 15
28,129
30,551
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
44.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.8%
38.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.4 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.4 /1k
14.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude death rate
11.5 /1k
13.7 /1k
Live births
1,459
1,589
Deaths
2,531
3,337
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.0%
58.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.07
1.06
Population density (persons per km²)
821 /km²
1,268 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
200,779
213,730
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.4%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
79.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.4%
21.3%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,212 /100k
1,223 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
276 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.3 /100k
1.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
111 /100k
105 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,223 /100k
756 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,723 /100k
2,162 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
52 /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)
208 m
55 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
56 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr