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 · ES617
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Alicante/Alacant (Opportunity 65). Runner-up: Málaga (61). Contrarian pick: Málaga — leads the set on Growth momentum (EU pctl 86).
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Digital readiness (88)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
#2Málaga
Strengths
Energy cost (95) · Growth momentum (86)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Alicante/Alacant
Labour market (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Labour market (EU pctl 14) — Málaga 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
60.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
37.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.3
37.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
87.0
24.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
49.3
49.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
60.3
46.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
78.2
85.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
1.6% 5y
1.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.5% 5y
6.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€22,853
€23,021
Population density
348 /km²
245 /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)
€42,408M
€37,628M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€562M
€1,133M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,117M
€2,287M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,404M
€1,323M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,421M
€3,233M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€12,231M
€11,214M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€16,000
€14,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,400 PPS
26,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,500
€23,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€25,331M
€38,703M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€4,983M
€2,996M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€70,224M
€98,864M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€11,312M
€10,924M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€9,766M
€8,838M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€43,576M
€37,932M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€65,043
€62,349
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,561M
€9,078M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
768,100
709,100
Self-employed persons
130,800
126,500
Employment in manufacturing (C)
81,200
26,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
74.1%
71.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
30.5%
32.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
15.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
1,016,200
870,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
153,279
150,217
Enterprise births
16,355
17,619
Enterprise deaths
12,875
13,087
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.3%
3.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.0%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
38.1%
36.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
53.1%
45.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
18.3%
13.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.2%
21.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
5.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
98.0%
96.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
32,579,948
30,456,704
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
510 /1k
535 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
48,365 kt
33,839 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
1,150
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
50 km/1000km²
31 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
92
64
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
14
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
1,206,590
Population aged 65+
426,265
339,636
Population aged under 15
269,637
244,957
Median age of population
45.9 yrs
44.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.9%
28.1%
Crude rate of total population change
20.0 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.9 /1k
10.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
8.4 /1k
7.7 /1k
Live births
13,207
11,719
Deaths
16,946
13,785
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.0%
48.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
1.07
Population density (persons per km²)
349 /km²
245 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,911,954
1,797,664
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.7%
34.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.5 yrs
82.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.0%
27.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
219 /100k
217 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
900 /100k
972 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
217 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
110 /100k
105 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
388 /100k
290 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
450 /100k
564 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
30 /M
41 /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)
216 m
313 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
68 days/yr
52 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
0 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr