NUTS-3 ES421 · Spain
Population
390,7512025
GDP
€10,285M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
14,926.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES421 · AT126
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Wiener Umland/Nordteil (Opportunity 59). Runner-up: Albacete (50). Contrarian pick: Albacete — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Freight intensity (89) · Demographic outlook (83)
Red flags
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 20% of population in the 100-year floodplain
#2Albacete
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Freight intensity (75)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Wiener Umland/Nordteil
Cost advantage (EU bottom 15%); Flood: 20% of population in the 100-year floodplain. Its weakest dimension is Cost advantage (EU pctl 3) — Albacete may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Wiener Umland/Nordteil · Manufacturing → Albacete · Office → Wiener Umland/Nordteil · Residential → Wiener Umland/Nordteil.
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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
49.6
58.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
49.5
77.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
45.2
51.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
48.3
42.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
13.7
48.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
45.3
56.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
66.0
53.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.7% 5y
2.4% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.8% 5y
0.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€26,322
€36,733
Population density
26 /km²
127 /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)
€9,386M
€11,446M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€813M
€353M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,882M
€2,819M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,178M
€1,373M
GVA — construction (F)
€537M
€933M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,175M
€2,459M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,800
€31,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
29,700 PPS
32,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€26,500
€37,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,963M
€18,609M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,892M
€2,844M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,774M
€35,602M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,731M
€2,894M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,247M
€1,989M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,161M
€10,847M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€68,142
€111,610
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,212M
€3,255M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
163,000
122,600
Self-employed persons
31,100
18,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,700
15,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
79.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
27.6%
8.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.8%
4.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
195,600
177,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
26,533
22,366
Enterprise births
2,043
1,360
Enterprise deaths
1,938
1,182
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
2.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.3%
36.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
39.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.0%
13.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
23.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.6%
9.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.3%
95.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,315,813
723,753
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
599 /1k
663 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,102 kt
18,374 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
10
15
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
20 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
3
4
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
125
33
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
258,963
222,264
Population aged 65+
81,452
72,781
Population aged under 15
50,336
51,512
Median age of population
46.3 yrs
46.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.5%
32.7%
Crude rate of total population change
4.3 /1k
4.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.6 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude death rate
9.8 /1k
10.4 /1k
Live births
2,545
2,619
Deaths
3,826
3,596
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
50.9%
55.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.17
1.35
Population density (persons per km²)
26 /km²
130 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
258,619
317,296
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.0%
13.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.9%
11.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
236 /100k
636 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
837 /100k
1,047 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
230 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
53.2 /100k
8.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
319 /100k
320 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
230 /100k
456 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
49 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.74
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
1.40
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
1.64
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
1.37
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.60
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.156/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.049/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
920 m
167 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
18 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
16 days/yr
71 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
3 days/yr