NUTS-3 DE732 · Germany
Fulda
Fulda generates €11bn of GDP across 222.3k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 55.3/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +4.0%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 2.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for digital connectivity (89th EU percentile) and weakest for health (29.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader74 → 80 EU percentile since 1995 (+6 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 intensity89
Economic base78
Labour market74
Air quality67
Demographic outlook66
Connectivity59
Resilience59
Quality of life58
Governance56
Industrial base55
Energy cost36
Cost advantage34
Growth momentum31
Talent & skills30
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)
55.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth31
Livability58.1
Market access70
Economic scale62
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)
58.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability87
Labour stability48
Diversification59
Demographic stability40
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)
58.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density89
Airport access17
Market access70
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)
29.8
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary17
Lifelong learning25
Knowledge workers32
Scientists & engineers45
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)
67
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.57.1 µg/m³
PM1011.5 µg/m³
NO213.7 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)
58.1
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy72
Jobs73
Education40.5
Health29.5
Safety34.3
Connectivity89
Environment68.3
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
31
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.0%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.3 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.1 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+0.8 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. · 26.3%Diversified · HHI 2199
Agriculture 0.8%Industry 20.8%Construction 6.8%Trade · transport · ICT 21.7%Finance · real estate · prof. 26.3%Public · health · education 23.7%
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)
€10,561M2023
4.2% 1y 4.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 62
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€9,225M2025
0.2% 1y 1.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 63
Population
222,2832025
0.2% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 45
Unemployment rate
3.6%2025
63.6% 1y 2.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 30
Employment
132,2902023
1.2% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 56
Productivity / employee
€84,9152025
3.3% 1y 4.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Gross value added
€9,647M2023
5.8% 1y 4.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 63
All indicators · 83 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,647M
2023 · EU pctl 63
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€81M
2023 · EU pctl 31
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,003M
2023 · EU pctl 58
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,771M
2023 · EU pctl 62
GVA — construction (F)
€652M
2023 · EU pctl 65
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,090M
2023 · EU pctl 64
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€26,900
2023 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
42,400 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 78
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€47,600
2023 · EU pctl 80
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€11,649M
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,829M
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€32,339M
2023 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,534M
2023 · EU pctl 69
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,287M
2023 · EU pctl 66
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,225M
2025 · EU pctl 63
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,915
2025 · EU pctl 53
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,225M
2025 · EU pctl 60
Labour market
Employment, total persons
132,290
2023 · EU pctl 56
Self-employed persons
10,710
2023 · EU pctl 37
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,050
2023 · EU pctl 63
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
80.7%
2025 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.6%
2025 · EU pctl 30
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
117,900
2025 · EU pctl 49
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
8,122
2023 · EU pctl 33
Enterprise births
629
2023 · EU pctl 32
Enterprise deaths
619
2023 · EU pctl 35
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
2023 · EU pctl 33
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.5%
2023 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.7%
2025 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.9%
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
30.6%
2025 · EU pctl 30 · 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)
8.2%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
20.8%
2025 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
8.0%
2025 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,551,296
2024 · EU pctl 63
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
642 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 77 · 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.
2,068
CURRENT · EU pctl 81
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,770 kt
2025 · EU pctl 70
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
930
CURRENT · EU pctl 89
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
95
CURRENT · EU pctl 83
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)
140,283
2025 · EU pctl 46
Population aged 65+
50,347
2025 · EU pctl 42
Population aged under 15
31,653
2025 · EU pctl 47
Median age of population
45.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 42
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.9%
2025 · EU pctl 45
Crude rate of total population change
-1.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 26
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 64
Crude death rate
12.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 61
Live births
1,855
2024 · EU pctl 50
Deaths
2,732
2024 · EU pctl 45
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.5%
2025 · EU pctl 45
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
2024 · EU pctl 59
Population density (persons per km²)
161 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 57
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
222,872
2100 · EU pctl 52
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,078 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
227 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 62
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
190 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 46
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,014 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 63
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
47 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 54 · 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)
305 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 61
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 41
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 60
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 17
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
12
2024 · EU pctl 15
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
14
2024 · EU pctl 58
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
61
2024 · EU pctl 79
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
20.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 38
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
0.9%
2021 · EU pctl 19
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions