NUTS-3 DE402 · Germany
Cottbus, Kreisfreie Stadt
Cottbus, Kreisfreie Stadt generates €4.4bn of GDP across 95.1k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 40.4/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by livability and market access. Its economy has grown +4.1%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 1.0pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (68.5th EU percentile) and weakest for health (33.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader70 → 71 EU percentile since 1995 (+1 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)
Economic base77
Labour market70
Governance56
Quality of life53
Connectivity45
Cost advantage40
Air quality38
Energy cost36
Freight intensity35
Resilience33
Growth momentum33
Talent & skills27
Demographic outlook6
Industrial base2
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)
40.4
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth32.6
Livability52.8
Market access50
Economic scale26
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)
33
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability91
Labour stability27
Diversification5
Demographic stability9
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)
45.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density63
Airport access23
Market access50
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)
27
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary17
Lifelong learning10
Knowledge workers43
Scientists & engineers38
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)
38.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.59.9 µg/m³
PM1015.9 µg/m³
NO212.5 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)
52.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy68.5
Jobs67
Education44
Health33.5
Safety54.7
Connectivity63
Environment39
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
32.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.8%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.4 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.9%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.0 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.4 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: Public · health · education · 45%Moderately concentrated · HHI 2970
Agriculture 0.1%Industry 10.8%Construction 4.3%Trade · transport · ICT 17.1%Finance · real estate · prof. 22.7%Public · health · education 45%
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)
€4,430M2023
7.7% 1y 4.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 26
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€3,553M2025
0.2% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 25
Population
95,1232025
0.4% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 12
Unemployment rate
3.8%2025
18.7% 1y 6.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 37
Employment
61,4302023
0.3% 1y 0.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 24
Productivity / employee
€76,1282025
3.3% 1y 4.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 36
Gross value added
€4,047M2023
9.3% 1y 4.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 27
All indicators · 85 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€4,047M
2023 · EU pctl 27
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€4M
2023 · EU pctl 3
GVA — industry (B–E)
€436M
2023 · EU pctl 12
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€114M
2023 · EU pctl 4
GVA — construction (F)
€174M
2023 · EU pctl 15
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€690M
2023 · EU pctl 24
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€26,000
2023 · EU pctl 60 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
41,800 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 77
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€46,900
2023 · EU pctl 79
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€23,042M
2023 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,607M
2023 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€47,281M
2023 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€920M
2023 · EU pctl 32
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,822M
2023 · EU pctl 58
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,553M
2025 · EU pctl 25
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€76,128
2025 · EU pctl 36
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,085M
2025 · EU pctl 28
Labour market
Employment, total persons
61,430
2023 · EU pctl 24
Self-employed persons
4,960
2023 · EU pctl 13
Employment in manufacturing (C)
2,560
2023 · EU pctl 4
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
80.0%
2025 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
7.3%
2019 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.8%
2025 · EU pctl 37
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
47,200
2025 · EU pctl 13
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,210
2023 · EU pctl 8
Enterprise births
179
2023 · EU pctl 5
Enterprise deaths
231
2023 · EU pctl 8
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
2023 · EU pctl 30
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.5%
2023 · EU pctl 47 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.1%
2025 · EU pctl 47 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.8%
2023 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
32.2%
2025 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
31.8%
2025 · EU pctl 17 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
6.4%
2025 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
21.9%
2025 · EU pctl 43 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.6%
2025 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
293,826
2024 · EU pctl 17
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
584 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
515
CURRENT · EU pctl 36
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,112 kt
2025 · EU pctl 13
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
28 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 60 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
541
CURRENT · EU pctl 63
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
84
CURRENT · EU pctl 77
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)
57,067
2025 · EU pctl 12
Population aged 65+
26,138
2025 · EU pctl 17
Population aged under 15
11,918
2025 · EU pctl 11
Median age of population
48.1 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 69
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
45.8%
2025 · EU pctl 86
Crude rate of total population change
3.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 68
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 25
Crude death rate
15.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Live births
627
2024 · EU pctl 10
Deaths
1,450
2024 · EU pctl 19
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
66.7%
2025 · EU pctl 84
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.27
2024 · EU pctl 29
Population density (persons per km²)
576 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 84
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
69,249
2100 · EU pctl 10
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,113 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
245 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 0
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
136 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
1,011 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 99
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,735 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 86
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
45 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.78
2022 · EU pctl 59
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.56
2022 · EU pctl 56
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.58
2022 · EU pctl 54
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.82
2022 · EU pctl 57
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
2022 · EU pctl 34
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.161/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 64
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.055/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 53
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
69 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 20
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 67
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 52
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 14
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 60
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
13
2024 · EU pctl 51
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
57
2024 · EU pctl 69
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
8.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 13
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
10.1%
2021 · EU pctl 87
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions