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 · EL303
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Alicante/Alacant (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών (56). Contrarian pick: Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών — leads the set on Economic base (EU pctl 91).
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Digital readiness (88)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Economic base (91) · Cost advantage (77)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Alicante/Alacant
Labour market (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 14) — Κεντρικός Τομέας Αθηνών may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Alicante/Alacant 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
64.9
56.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
11.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.3
39.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
87.0
2.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
49.3
52.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.3
65.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
78.2
55.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
4.3% 5y
Population
1.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
10.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€22,853
€39,592
Population density
348 /km²
11,132 /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
€33,786M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€562M
€22M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,117M
€2,747M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,404M
€1,769M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,421M
€121M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€12,231M
€7,817M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€16,000
€15,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,400 PPS
52,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,500
€42,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,331M
€12,450M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,983M
€1,445M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€70,224M
€37,495M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
—
€6,950M
GVA — information & communication (J)
—
€1,607M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€11,312M
€15,655M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€9,766M
€7,423M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€43,576M
€35,462M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€65,043
€59,039
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,561M
€5,160M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
768,100
709,910
Self-employed persons
130,800
101,550
Employment in manufacturing (C)
81,200
37,930
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.1%
73.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
14.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
8.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
1,016,200
473,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
153,279
117,605
Enterprise births
16,355
11,184
Enterprise deaths
12,875
3,025
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
5.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
5.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
2.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.1%
44.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.1%
51.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.3%
6.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.2%
29.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
11.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
32,579,948
7,997,727
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
510 /1k
903 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
48,365 kt
3,047 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
1,434
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
92
147
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
50 km/1000km²
48 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
19
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
1,337,664
653,025
Population aged 65+
426,265
221,600
Population aged under 15
269,637
103,368
Median age of population
45.9 yrs
46.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.9%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
20.0 /1k
-5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.9 /1k
0.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
6.0 /1k
Crude death rate
8.4 /1k
11.6 /1k
Live births
13,207
5,852
Deaths
16,946
11,422
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.0%
49.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
0.92
Population density (persons per km²)
349 /km²
11,143 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,911,954
457,072
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.7%
23.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
81.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.0%
13.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
219 /100k
468 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
900 /100k
1,089 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
239 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
—
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
110 /100k
—
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
388 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
450 /100k
—
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
30 /M
42 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
216 m
123 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
68 days/yr
81 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
4 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
6 days/yr