NUTS-3 ES414 · Spain
Population
158,7022025
GDP
€5,048M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
74.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
8,050.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES414 · ITC14
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (Opportunity 47). Runner-up: Palencia (37). Contrarian pick: Palencia — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Cost advantage (51) · Connectivity (47)
Red flags
Long-run slide: down 20 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute)
#2Palencia
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Freight intensity (92)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Verbano-Cusio-Ossola
Long-run slide: down 20 EU ranks in real GDP per head since 1995 (relative decline, not absolute). Its weakest dimension is Talent & skills (EU pctl 18) — Palencia may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Verbano-Cusio-Ossola 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
37.4
46.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
35.8
40.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.4
46.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
76.0
30.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
11.7
47.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.3
18.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
47.2
37.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.0% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€31,805
€29,114
Population density
20 /km²
68 /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)
€4,606M
€4,009M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€219M
€28M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,462M
€747M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,122M
€599M
GVA — construction (F)
€242M
€282M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€876M
€984M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€18,500
€24,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,900 PPS
30,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,000
€29,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€13,527M
€44,851M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,707M
€10,323M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€32,274M
€61,911M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€622M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€44M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€836M
€1,104M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€972M
€863M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,633M
€4,089M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,799
€77,629
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,108M
€1,278M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
68,900
58,400
Self-employed persons
11,700
15,200
Employment in manufacturing (C)
13,400
8,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.7%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
19.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.6%
6.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
74,800
70,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,341
11,741
Enterprise births
568
745
Enterprise deaths
583
661
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
3.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.4%
2.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
3.6%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.1%
21.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
52.3%
29.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
15.3%
10.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.8%
16.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.3%
5.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.0%
93.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
758,457
3,820,925
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
601 /1k
723 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,872 kt
3,101 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
17
29
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
26 km/1000km²
36 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
11
19
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
171
60
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
96,993
94,025
Population aged 65+
44,739
44,061
Population aged under 15
16,970
15,197
Median age of population
51.4 yrs
52.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
46.1%
46.9%
Crude rate of total population change
4.0 /1k
-3.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.0 /1k
5.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.2 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
13.1 /1k
Live births
824
758
Deaths
2,085
2,006
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.6%
63.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.08
1.06
Population density (persons per km²)
20 /km²
71 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
87,585
117,869
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
16.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.8 yrs
83.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.8%
14.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
343 /100k
353 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
749 /100k
892 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
212 /100k
228 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.3 /100k
9.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
172 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
101 /100k
419 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
68 /M
40 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.60
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.57
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.41
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.159/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
874 m
1,062 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
29 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
157 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
29 days/yr