NUTS-3 ES521 · Spain
Population
2,033,5662025
GDP
€46,473M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
11.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,842.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES521 · CZ064
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Alicante/Alacant (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Jihomoravský kraj (64). Contrarian pick: Jihomoravský kraj — leads the set on Labour market (EU pctl 79).
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Digital readiness (88)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Alicante/Alacant
Labour market (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 14) — Jihomoravský kraj may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Jihomoravský kraj · Manufacturing → Jihomoravský kraj · Office → Alicante/Alacant · Residential → Alicante/Alacant.
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
64.9
63.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
50.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.3
49.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
87.0
21.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
49.3
43.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.3
55.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
78.2
64.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
1.9% 5y
Population
1.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
1.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€22,853
€28,358
Population density
348 /km²
171 /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)
€42,408M
€31,822M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€562M
€729M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,117M
€7,084M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,404M
€6,139M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,421M
€2,121M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€12,231M
€8,359M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€16,000
€15,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,400 PPS
34,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,500
€28,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,331M
€11,563M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,983M
€1,779M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€70,224M
€21,530M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€4,083M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€2,920M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€11,312M
€7,360M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€9,766M
€6,169M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€43,576M
€26,619M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€65,043
€60,754
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,561M
€9,120M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
768,100
613,460
Self-employed persons
130,800
86,340
Employment in manufacturing (C)
81,200
132,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.1%
77.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
7.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
2.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
1,016,200
604,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
153,279
151,626
Enterprise births
16,355
13,154
Enterprise deaths
12,875
9,440
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
2.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
6.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.1%
30.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.1%
42.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.3%
10.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.2%
22.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
9.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
32,579,948
4,377,441
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
510 /1k
573 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
48,365 kt
36,191 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,869
7,786
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
50 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
92
633
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
113
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
1,337,664
780,610
Population aged 65+
426,265
253,648
Population aged under 15
269,637
195,085
Median age of population
45.9 yrs
43.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.9%
32.5%
Crude rate of total population change
20.0 /1k
2.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.9 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
8.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.4 /1k
10.0 /1k
Live births
13,207
9,868
Deaths
16,946
12,239
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.0%
57.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
1.38
Population density (persons per km²)
349 /km²
175 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,911,954
1,163,388
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.7%
8.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
80.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.0%
6.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
219 /100k
692 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
900 /100k
1,352 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
242 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
110 /100k
14.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
388 /100k
298 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
450 /100k
269 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
30 /M
63 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
1.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
1.33
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
1.14
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.80
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
1.00
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.146/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.055/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
216 m
210 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
68 days/yr
16 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
86 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr