NUTS-3 DEG02 · Germany
Population
95,6082025
GDP
€3,467M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
150.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEG02 · DEG07
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Gera, Kreisfreie Stadt (Opportunity 42). Runner-up: Nordhausen (38). Contrarian pick: Nordhausen — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 92).
Why you might not pick Gera, Kreisfreie Stadt
Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 20) — Nordhausen may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Gera, Kreisfreie Stadt · Manufacturing → Nordhausen · Office → Gera, Kreisfreie Stadt · Residential → Gera, 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
42.0
37.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
52.0
41.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
48.0
55.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
50.0
57.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
52.0
58.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.5
28.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.0
28.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.5% 5y
0.3% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
16.1% 5y
14.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€36,261
€32,652
Population density
636 /km²
113 /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)
€3,167M
€2,409M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€10M
€82M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€441M
€599M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€317M
€463M
GVA — construction (F)
€135M
€166M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€679M
€362M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,200
€25,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,500 PPS
28,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€36,500
€32,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,609M
€14,609M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,167M
€3,167M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€42,299M
€42,299M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€669M
€418M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,232M
€781M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,927M
€2,226M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€73,977
€61,206
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€668M
€508M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
49,520
37,010
Self-employed persons
3,900
3,140
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,930
7,110
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
80.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.7%
7.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.7%
3.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
45,500
39,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,955
2,373
Enterprise births
172
148
Enterprise deaths
234
164
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.0%
2.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.6%
2.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
4.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.4%
30.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.6%
35.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
8.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
19.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
7.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
133,285
173,069
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
568 /1k
568 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,832 kt
4,521 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
454
579
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
32 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
475
717
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
60
61
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
55,230
47,326
Population aged 65+
28,232
23,402
Population aged under 15
12,146
10,034
Median age of population
50.4 yrs
51.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
51.1%
49.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.9 /1k
-9.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.5 /1k
2.1 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.0 /1k
5.3 /1k
Crude death rate
15.4 /1k
16.6 /1k
Live births
573
432
Deaths
1,475
1,344
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
73.1%
70.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.31
1.25
Population density (persons per km²)
629 /km²
114 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
91,851
73,391
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.4%
23.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
80.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.4%
17.4%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,212 /100k
1,212 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
93.0 /100k
27.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
758 /100k
443 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,643 /100k
961 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
46 /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)
195 m
226 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
9 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
60 days/yr
73 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
1 days/yr