NUTS-3 DEG0U · Germany
Population
100,1052025
GDP
€3,312M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,009.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
DEG0U · DE407
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Elbe-Elster (Opportunity 41). Runner-up: Saalfeld-Rudolstadt (38). Contrarian pick: Saalfeld-Rudolstadt — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 88).
Why you might not pick Elbe-Elster
Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 15) — Saalfeld-Rudolstadt may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Elbe-Elster · Manufacturing → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt · Office → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt · Residential → Saalfeld-Rudolstadt.
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
38.4
41.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
31.8
41.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.7
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
49.0
53.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
68.3
63.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
28.5
27.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
24.8
38.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
—
0.2% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
—
3.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€33,083
€33,288
Population density
99 /km²
52 /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)
€3,025M
€2,979M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€64M
€116M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,054M
€842M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€904M
€513M
GVA — construction (F)
€190M
€204M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€383M
€400M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€25,200
€26,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,100 PPS
29,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,700
€32,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€14,609M
€23,042M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,167M
€2,607M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€42,299M
€47,281M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€503M
€522M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€831M
€895M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
—
€2,615M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
—
€79,593
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
—
€798M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
43,920
43,250
Self-employed persons
4,250
4,810
Employment in manufacturing (C)
10,930
8,250
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
80.5%
80.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
7.7%
7.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
—
3.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
—
46,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,430
3,409
Enterprise births
174
166
Enterprise deaths
239
238
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.9%
3.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.6%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
4.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.3%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.4%
32.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
35.6%
31.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
8.1%
6.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
19.9%
21.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
7.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
342,426
145,653
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
568 /1k
584 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,732 kt
3,971 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
871
931
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
870
950
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
32 km/1000km²
28 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
44
59
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
3
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
56,932
55,972
Population aged 65+
31,382
30,223
Population aged under 15
11,791
11,772
Median age of population
54.1 yrs
54.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
55.1%
54.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-10.0 /1k
-8.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.3 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.0 /1k
5.2 /1k
Crude death rate
16.3 /1k
18.0 /1k
Live births
505
516
Deaths
1,641
1,767
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
75.8%
75.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.35
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
101 /km²
52 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
84,881
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
23.4%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.7 yrs
81.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
17.4%
14.7%
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,212 /100k
1,113 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
228 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.8 /100k
19.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
206 /100k
368 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,013 /100k
860 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
46 /M
45 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.78
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.58
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
—
1.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
—
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)
541 m
152 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
84 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr