NUTS-3 ES243 · Spain
Population
998,4432025
GDP
€34,286M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
17,253.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES243 · EL303
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zaragoza (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών (56). Contrarian pick: Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Economic base (91) · Cost advantage (77)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zaragoza
Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 29) — Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zaragoza 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
59.2
56.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
50.8
11.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
52.7
39.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
45.3
2.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
40.7
52.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
61.3
65.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
66.2
55.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.1% 5y
4.3% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.9% 5y
10.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€34,340
€39,592
Population density
58 /km²
11,132 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€31,231M
€33,786M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1,373M
€22M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€7,898M
€2,747M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€6,054M
€1,769M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,527M
€121M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€7,274M
€7,817M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€19,900
€15,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
39,100 PPS
52,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€34,900
€42,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,383M
€12,450M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,967M
€1,445M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€22,292M
€37,495M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€6,950M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€1,607M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,624M
€15,655M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€6,536M
€7,423M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€30,911M
€35,462M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,043
€59,039
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€7,801M
€5,160M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
468,100
709,910
Self-employed persons
60,300
101,550
Employment in manufacturing (C)
75,700
37,930
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.1%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.1%
14.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.0%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
501,200
473,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
63,677
117,605
Enterprise births
4,897
11,184
Enterprise deaths
4,539
3,025
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
5.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.6%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.2%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
41.0%
44.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
49.6%
51.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
15.1%
6.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.7%
29.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.7%
11.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.6%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,401,018
7,997,727
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
499 /1k
903 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
51,717 kt
3,047 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
44
1,434
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
4
147
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
18 km/1000km²
48 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
22
19
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)
648,918
653,025
Population aged 65+
221,382
221,600
Population aged under 15
128,143
103,368
Median age of population
46.7 yrs
46.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.1%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
10.8 /1k
-5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
14.3 /1k
0.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.3 /1k
6.0 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
11.6 /1k
Live births
6,213
5,852
Deaths
9,706
11,422
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.9%
49.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.12
0.92
Population density (persons per km²)
58 /km²
11,143 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
829,042
457,072
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.1%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.3 yrs
81.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.6%
13.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
352 /100k
468 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
812 /100k
1,089 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
226 /100k
239 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
—
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
126 /100k
—
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
270 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
254 /100k
—
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
53 /M
42 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
219 m
123 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
74 days/yr
81 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
11 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
6 days/yr