NUTS-3 AT226 · Austria
Westliche Obersteiermark
Westliche Obersteiermark generates €4.1bn of GDP across 98.4k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 40.6/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by livability and market access. Its economy has grown +5.3%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 1.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (78.5th EU percentile) and weakest for digital connectivity (40th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run riser55 → 68 EU percentile since 1995 (+12 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Freight intensity98
Industrial base82
Talent & skills67
Economic base64
Quality of life60
Resilience59
Governance53
Air quality50
Energy cost49
Labour market44
Connectivity43
Digital readiness40
Growth momentum36
Demographic outlook13
Cost advantage7
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
40.6
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth35.6
Livability59.7
Market access43
Economic scale24
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
59
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability38
Labour stability95
Diversification69
Demographic stability34
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
42.5
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 2/3 facets
Transit density—
Airport access42
Market access43
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
66.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary63
Lifelong learning78
Knowledge workers53
Scientists & engineers72
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
49.5
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 2/3 pollutants
PM2.5—
PM1016.1 µg/m³
NO210.6 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
59.7
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy78.5
Jobs42
Education73
Health64.5
Safety69.3
Connectivity40
Environment50.5
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
35.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.3%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.7%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.5 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.2%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+0.6 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Industry · 31.5%Diversified · HHI 2142
Agriculture 4.9%Industry 31.5%Construction 6.8%Trade · transport · ICT 18.4%Finance · real estate · prof. 17.8%Public · health · education 20.5%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
Trends · 2009–2023
GDP (current prices)
€4,094M2023
7.4% 1y 5.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 24
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€3,599M2025
0.5% 1y 2.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 26
Population
98,4142025
0.2% 1y 0.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 13
Unemployment rate
5.0%2025
13.6% 1y 2.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 61
Employment
42,5002023
0.7% 1y 0.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 12
Productivity / employee
€104,8022025
3.8% 1y 6.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 86
Gross value added
€3,681M2023
7.7% 1y 5.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 24
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,681M
2023 · EU pctl 24
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€180M
2023 · EU pctl 56
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,160M
2023 · EU pctl 37
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€976M
2023 · EU pctl 40
GVA — construction (F)
€250M
2023 · EU pctl 27
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€677M
2023 · EU pctl 24
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€30,700
2024 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,700 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 64
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€41,400
2023 · EU pctl 67
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€15,264M
2023 · EU pctl 54 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€3,445M
2023 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€31,076M
2023 · EU pctl 48 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€657M
2023 · EU pctl 21
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€756M
2023 · EU pctl 20
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,599M
2025 · EU pctl 26
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,802
2025 · EU pctl 86
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,045M
2025 · EU pctl 27
Labour market
Employment, total persons
42,500
2023 · EU pctl 12
Self-employed persons
6,500
2023 · EU pctl 21
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,100
2023 · EU pctl 25
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
78.7%
2025 · EU pctl 54 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
11.3%
2025 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.0%
2025 · EU pctl 61
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
47,900
2025 · EU pctl 14
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,328
2023 · EU pctl 21
Enterprise births
336
2023 · EU pctl 15
Enterprise deaths
236
2023 · EU pctl 8
3-year enterprise survival rate
2.6%
2023 · EU pctl 5
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
5.3%
2023 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
5.9%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
3.1%
2023 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
34.9%
2025 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
43.8%
2025 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
16.1%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
23.4%
2025 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.3%
2025 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.7%
2025 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,483,584
2025 · EU pctl 62
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
626 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,505 kt
2025 · EU pctl 52
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
19 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
61
CURRENT · EU pctl 57
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
60,502
2025 · EU pctl 14
Population aged 65+
25,253
2025 · EU pctl 15
Population aged under 15
12,659
2025 · EU pctl 13
Median age of population
49.2 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 78
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.7%
2025 · EU pctl 75
Crude rate of total population change
-2.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 27
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 46
Crude death rate
13.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 78
Live births
748
2024 · EU pctl 15
Deaths
1,343
2024 · EU pctl 16
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.7%
2025 · EU pctl 72
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.47
2024 · EU pctl 64
Population density (persons per km²)
32 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 9
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
76,789
2100 · EU pctl 12
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
723 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
954 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 36 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
228 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 47 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 0
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
4.1 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 6
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
151 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 35
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
499 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
50 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.74
2022 · EU pctl 54
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.40
2022 · EU pctl 49
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.64
2022 · EU pctl 88
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.37
2022 · EU pctl 40
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.60
2022 · EU pctl 79
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.156/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 51
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.049/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 35
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,095 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 97
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 5
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
155 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 96
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 79
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
16
2024 · EU pctl 62
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 37
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
65
2024 · EU pctl 89
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
14.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 26
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
3.8%
2021 · EU pctl 58
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Austria regions