NUTS-3 DE711 · Germany
Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt
Darmstadt, Kreisfreie Stadt generates €15bn of GDP across 167k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 68.2/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +3.2%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 1.6pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (94th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (39.7th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader99 → 98 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 base98
Connectivity75
Resilience72
Industrial base69
Talent & skills63
Quality of life61
Labour market57
Governance56
Air quality49
Growth momentum46
Demographic outlook43
Energy cost36
Freight intensity14
Cost advantage10
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)
68.2
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth45.8
Livability61
Market access91
Economic scale75
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)
72.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability98
Labour stability76
Diversification26
Demographic stability89
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)
75
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density46
Airport access88
Market access91
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)
62.8
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary61
Lifelong learning52
Knowledge workers70
Scientists & engineers68
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)
49.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.58.2 µg/m³
PM1013.2 µg/m³
NO216.7 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)
61
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy94
Jobs64.5
Education74.5
Health58
Safety39.7
Connectivity46
Environment50.3
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
45.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.2%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.5%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.3 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-1.0 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.9%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.6 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: Finance · real estate · prof. · 25.7%Diversified · HHI 2415
Agriculture 0.1%Industry 24.9%Construction 1.8%Trade · transport · ICT 24.8%Finance · real estate · prof. 25.7%Public · health · education 22.8%
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)
€15,417M2023
4.7% 1y 3.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 75
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€13,726M2025
0.2% 1y 0.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Population
167,0292025
1.3% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 33
Unemployment rate
3.5%2025
2.9% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 28
Employment
141,8102023
0.1% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 60
Productivity / employee
€115,7262025
3.3% 1y 2.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 92
Gross value added
€14,082M2023
6.2% 1y 3.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 75
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€14,082M
2023 · EU pctl 75
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
2023 · EU pctl 6
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,502M
2023 · EU pctl 78
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€3,106M
2023 · EU pctl 82
GVA — construction (F)
€255M
2023 · EU pctl 27
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,489M
2023 · EU pctl 79
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€30,100
2023 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
84,000 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 98
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€94,200
2023 · EU pctl 98
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€49,287M
2023 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€7,586M
2023 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€137,102M
2023 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,619M
2023 · EU pctl 78
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,208M
2023 · EU pctl 77
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€13,726M
2025 · EU pctl 76
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€115,726
2025 · EU pctl 92
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,001M
2025 · EU pctl 71
Labour market
Employment, total persons
141,810
2023 · EU pctl 60
Self-employed persons
8,160
2023 · EU pctl 28
Employment in manufacturing (C)
17,860
2023 · EU pctl 51
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
78.6%
2025 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
6.3%
2025 · EU pctl 11 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.5%
2025 · EU pctl 28
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
93,700
2025 · EU pctl 39
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,623
2023 · EU pctl 27
Enterprise births
603
2023 · EU pctl 31
Enterprise deaths
604
2023 · EU pctl 33
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
2023 · EU pctl 64
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
3.4%
2023 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
7.5%
2025 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.4%
2023 · EU pctl 87 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
37.9%
2025 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
43.7%
2025 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
10.5%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
26.5%
2025 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
9.8%
2025 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
780,787
2024 · EU pctl 46
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
612 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 60 · 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.
621
CURRENT · EU pctl 40
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,150 kt
2025 · EU pctl 13
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
372
CURRENT · EU pctl 46
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
CURRENT · EU pctl 12
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
115,957
2025 · EU pctl 38
Population aged 65+
29,013
2025 · EU pctl 21
Population aged under 15
22,059
2025 · EU pctl 32
Median age of population
38.0 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 1
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.0%
2025 · EU pctl 3
Crude rate of total population change
13.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Crude death rate
8.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 7
Live births
1,421
2024 · EU pctl 39
Deaths
1,369
2024 · EU pctl 17
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
44.0%
2025 · EU pctl 1
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
2024 · EU pctl 14
Population density (persons per km²)
1,360 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 92
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
155,062
2100 · EU pctl 36
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
974 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
229 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 75
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
71.6 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
508 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 90
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,243 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 94
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
27 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 12 · 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)
154 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 41
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
15 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 70
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 42
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 44
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
13
2024 · EU pctl 32
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
17
2024 · EU pctl 75
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
45
2024 · EU pctl 10
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
13.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 23
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
0.0%
2021 · EU pctl 0
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions