NUTS-3 ES212 · Spain
Population
733,1492025
GDP
€28,428M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,978.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES212 · ES114
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Gipuzkoa (Opportunity 61). Runner-up: Pontevedra (56). Contrarian pick: Pontevedra — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 69).
Why you might not pick Gipuzkoa
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 23) — Pontevedra may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Gipuzkoa 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
60.8
56.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.3
43.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
65.1
50.6
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
55.7
55.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
31.3
24.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
88.5
61.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.0
60.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.9% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.1% 5y
9.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€38,775
€27,075
Population density
370 /km²
211 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€25,941M
€23,418M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€157M
€696M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€6,853M
€4,886M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€6,546M
€4,352M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,437M
€1,526M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€5,826M
€6,196M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€24,200
€17,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
43,800 PPS
30,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€39,000
€27,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€16,022M
€13,447M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,378M
€2,235M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€43,785M
€35,979M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€5,964M
€5,249M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€5,706M
€4,865M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€26,570M
€23,713M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€83,507
€70,003
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€5,956M
€5,053M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
362,400
392,500
Self-employed persons
43,100
69,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
79,300
58,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.6%
73.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.6%
24.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
8.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
351,500
458,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
49,652
69,834
Enterprise births
3,819
5,423
Enterprise deaths
3,559
5,028
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
4.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.4%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
2.2%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
58.2%
43.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
68.6%
53.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
19.8%
14.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
32.5%
25.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.6%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.5%
96.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,525,954
4,957,000
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
478 /1k
611 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
22,679 kt
28,550 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
69
6
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
70 km/1000km²
40 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
9
1
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
60
60
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
465,410
608,104
Population aged 65+
176,195
234,267
Population aged under 15
91,544
105,447
Median age of population
47.9 yrs
48.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.9%
38.5%
Crude rate of total population change
4.7 /1k
-0.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.6 /1k
5.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.1 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude death rate
10.0 /1k
10.5 /1k
Live births
4,430
4,680
Deaths
7,327
9,934
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.5%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
0.92
Population density (persons per km²)
371 /km²
212 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
705,837
607,774
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
14.7%
22.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.7 yrs
84.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
9.3%
16.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
327 /100k
317 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
779 /100k
785 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
216 /100k
215 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
72.6 /100k
35.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
384 /100k
169 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
378 /100k
154 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
21 /M
48 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.14
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.84
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.96
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.78
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.16
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.106/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
395 m
194 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
3 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
14 days/yr
37 days/yr