NUTS-3 ES511 · Spain
Population
5,959,9412025
GDP
€209,564M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
76.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
7,723.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES511 · ES300
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
71.9
78.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.5
40.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
54.1
63.9
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
18.3
28.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
49.0
64.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
76.8
86.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
68.4
77.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.2% 5y
4.8% 5y
Population
0.9% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.6% 5y
8.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€35,162
€41,600
Population density
772 /km²
888 /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)
€190,895M
€269,700M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€880M
€202M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€35,438M
€23,119M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€29,449M
€15,177M
GVA — construction (F)
€9,083M
€12,434M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€55,126M
€91,171M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€19,900
€22,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
40,300 PPS
47,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€35,900
€42,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€57,689M
€73,703M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€9,484M
€4,997M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€147,909M
€167,171M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€55,293M
€92,199M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€35,076M
€50,575M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€198,856M
€279,971M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€78,611
€81,726
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€48,409M
€83,602M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
2,865,100
3,857,600
Self-employed persons
368,800
405,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
341,000
190,000
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.4%
78.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
19.1%
19.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.4%
8.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
3,145,800
3,856,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
489,832
553,293
Enterprise births
46,485
52,854
Enterprise deaths
39,035
42,764
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.9%
2.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
6.6%
8.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
1.9%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
46.9%
50.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
57.5%
57.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
16.2%
16.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
28.1%
33.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.8%
10.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.5%
98.6%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
41,221,572
32,320,997
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
450 /1k
606 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
141,294 kt
112,847 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
10,112
13,277
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
46 km/1000km²
92 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
170
187
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
52
17
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
4,007,868
4,827,262
Population aged 65+
1,174,289
1,342,648
Population aged under 15
777,784
943,976
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
44.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
29.3%
27.8%
Crude rate of total population change
13.9 /1k
14.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
15.6 /1k
14.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude death rate
8.2 /1k
7.0 /1k
Live births
39,034
50,770
Deaths
48,823
49,408
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
48.7%
47.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.04
1.09
Population density (persons per km²)
767 /km²
886 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
7,319,537
8,486,429
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.3%
19.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
84.3 yrs
85.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
14.3%
12.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
360 /100k
253 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
806 /100k
696 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
208 /100k
187 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
371 /100k
158 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
342 /100k
232 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,112 /100k
422 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
32 /M
18 /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)
368 m
650 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
45 days/yr
72 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
21 days/yr
31 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
4 days/yr