NUTS-3 ES422 · Spain
Population
494,8482025
GDP
€12,447M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
12.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
19,802.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES422 · RO311
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Ciudad Real (Opportunity 46). Runner-up: Argeş (35). Contrarian pick: Argeş — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 98).
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Cost advantage (74)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
#2Argeş
Strengths
Cost advantage (98) · Industrial base (79)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Ciudad Real
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 6) — Argeş may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Ciudad Real 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
46.4
35.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.3
38.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
42.3
18.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
39.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
9.0
20.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
45.3
16.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
50.2
42.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
1.1% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.7% 5y
7.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€25,154
€15,834
Population density
25 /km²
82 /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)
€11,358M
€8,064M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1,013M
€268M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,475M
€2,372M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,912M
€2,077M
GVA — construction (F)
€820M
€707M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,369M
€2,075M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,800
€7,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,400 PPS
26,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€25,300
€15,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,963M
€7,781M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,892M
€1,628M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€23,774M
€12,452M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€607M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€141M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,050M
€1,290M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,633M
€1,351M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,087M
€5,505M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€74,064
€39,248
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,677M
€2,121M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
181,500
252,390
Self-employed persons
31,300
32,810
Employment in manufacturing (C)
21,500
79,630
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.4%
68.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
27.6%
39.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
12.8%
8.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
244,200
248,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
30,354
28,603
Enterprise births
2,265
3,396
Enterprise deaths
2,304
1,866
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
5.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
0.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
1.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
33.3%
14.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.4%
16.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
14.0%
11.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
11.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.6%
4.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.3%
94.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
935,863
401,494
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
599 /1k
403 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
16,664 kt
8,996 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
75
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
23 km/1000km²
9 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
0
13
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
173
95
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)
323,424
364,358
Population aged 65+
107,980
119,715
Population aged under 15
63,444
77,917
Median age of population
46.6 yrs
46.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.4%
32.9%
Crude rate of total population change
3.8 /1k
-5.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.0 /1k
1.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
12.7 /1k
Live births
3,224
3,733
Deaths
5,275
7,144
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.0%
54.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.17
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
25 /km²
83 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
269,825
303,794
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.0%
27.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.9 yrs
76.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.9%
19.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
236 /100k
542 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
837 /100k
1,895 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
206 /100k
207 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.2 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
34.9 /100k
9.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
238 /100k
108 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
154 /100k
295 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
76 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
0.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.44
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.07
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.55
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.155/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.051/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
631 m
410 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
90 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
26 days/yr
92 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
6 days/yr