NUTS-3 ES300 · Spain
Population
7,113,8862025
GDP
€295,939M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.9%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
8,007.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES300 · ES511
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Madrid (Opportunity 79). Runner-up: Barcelona (72).
#1Madrid
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Demographic outlook (94)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Madrid
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 8) — Barcelona may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Madrid · Manufacturing → Barcelona · Office → Madrid · Residential → Madrid.
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
78.5
71.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
40.0
42.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
63.9
54.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
28.0
18.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
64.7
49.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
86.3
76.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
77.0
68.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
4.2% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
7.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€41,600
€35,162
Population density
888 /km²
772 /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)
€269,700M
€190,895M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€202M
€880M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€23,119M
€35,438M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€15,177M
€29,449M
GVA — construction (F)
€12,434M
€9,083M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€91,171M
€55,126M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€22,600
€19,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
47,900 PPS
40,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,600
€35,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€73,703M
€57,689M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,997M
€9,484M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€167,171M
€147,909M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€92,199M
€55,293M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€50,575M
€35,076M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€279,971M
€198,856M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€81,726
€78,611
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€83,602M
€48,409M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
3,857,600
2,865,100
Self-employed persons
405,400
368,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
190,000
341,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.3%
77.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.3%
19.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.0%
8.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
3,856,800
3,145,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
553,293
489,832
Enterprise births
52,854
46,485
Enterprise deaths
42,764
39,035
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
4.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
1.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
8.5%
6.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.9%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
50.0%
46.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
57.3%
57.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.8%
16.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
33.0%
28.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
10.7%
8.8%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.6%
98.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
32,320,997
41,221,572
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
606 /1k
450 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
112,847 kt
141,294 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
13,277
10,112
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
92 km/1000km²
46 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
187
170
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
17
52
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)
4,827,262
4,007,868
Population aged 65+
1,342,648
1,174,289
Population aged under 15
943,976
777,784
Median age of population
44.2 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
27.8%
29.3%
Crude rate of total population change
14.8 /1k
13.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
14.6 /1k
15.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.2 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
7.0 /1k
8.2 /1k
Live births
50,770
39,034
Deaths
49,408
48,823
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
47.4%
48.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.09
1.04
Population density (persons per km²)
886 /km²
767 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
8,486,429
7,319,537
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.4%
21.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
85.7 yrs
84.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.7%
14.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
253 /100k
360 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
696 /100k
806 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
187 /100k
208 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.3 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
158 /100k
371 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
232 /100k
342 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
422 /100k
1,112 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
18 /M
32 /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)
650 m
368 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
72 days/yr
45 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
31 days/yr
21 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr