NUTS-3 ES617 · Spain
Population
1,791,1832025
GDP
€41,235M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
15.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
65.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
7,317.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
ES617 · ES521
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
60.9
64.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
37.8
45.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
37.1
53.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
24.7
87.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
49.0
49.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
46.8
60.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
85.6
78.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.9% 5y
4.8% 5y
Population
1.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.1% 5y
8.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€23,021
€22,853
Population density
245 /km²
348 /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)
€37,628M
€42,408M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€1,133M
€562M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,287M
€5,117M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,323M
€4,404M
GVA — construction (F)
€3,233M
€3,421M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€11,214M
€12,231M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€14,700
€16,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,200 PPS
26,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,400
€23,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€38,703M
€25,331M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€2,996M
€4,983M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€98,864M
€70,224M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€10,924M
€11,312M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€8,838M
€9,766M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€37,932M
€43,576M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€62,349
€65,043
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,078M
€9,561M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
709,100
768,100
Self-employed persons
126,500
130,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
26,200
81,200
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
71.4%
74.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
32.7%
30.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
15.2%
11.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
870,900
1,016,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
150,217
153,279
Enterprise births
17,619
16,355
Enterprise deaths
13,087
12,875
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
4.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
1.0%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.7%
38.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
45.4%
53.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
13.7%
18.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.4%
22.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.7%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.5%
98.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
30,456,704
32,579,948
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
535 /1k
510 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
33,839 kt
48,365 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,150
1,869
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
31 km/1000km²
50 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
64
92
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
14
19
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
1,206,590
1,337,664
Population aged 65+
339,636
426,265
Population aged under 15
244,957
269,637
Median age of population
44.7 yrs
45.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.1%
31.9%
Crude rate of total population change
9.2 /1k
20.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
10.4 /1k
21.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
6.6 /1k
Crude death rate
7.7 /1k
8.4 /1k
Live births
11,719
13,207
Deaths
13,785
16,946
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
48.5%
52.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.07
1.15
Population density (persons per km²)
245 /km²
349 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,797,664
1,911,954
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.7%
30.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.9 yrs
83.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
27.7%
26.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
217 /100k
219 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
972 /100k
900 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
217 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
105 /100k
110 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
290 /100k
388 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
564 /100k
450 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
41 /M
30 /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)
313 m
216 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
68 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
1 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr