NUTS-3 DEA27 · Germany
Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Rhein-Erft-Kreis generates €20bn of GDP across 478k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 72.3/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +4.4%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 3.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (78th EU percentile) and weakest for health (46.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable81 → 69 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 intensity81
Connectivity78
Talent & skills70
Economic base66
Demographic outlook62
Quality of life61
Governance56
Air quality56
Labour market55
Resilience54
Growth momentum50
Industrial base45
Energy cost36
Cost advantage25
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)
72.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth49.8
Livability61.3
Market access97
Economic scale81
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)
53.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability61
Labour stability58
Diversification33
Demographic stability63
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)
77.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density59
Airport access77
Market access97
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)
70.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary71
Lifelong learning58
Knowledge workers78
Scientists & engineers74
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)
56
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.58.8 µg/m³
PM1013.5 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)
61.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy70.5
Jobs58
Education78
Health46.5
Safety59.3
Connectivity59
Environment57.7
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
49.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.5%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.2 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.3%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.2 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 · 30.8%Diversified · HHI 2359
Agriculture 0.6%Industry 30.8%Construction 4.4%Trade · transport · ICT 24.5%Finance · real estate · prof. 21.3%Public · health · education 18.4%
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)
€20,203M2023
2.7% 1y 4.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 81
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€17,262M2025
0.2% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 80
Population
477,9882025
0.3% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Unemployment rate
3.9%2025
8.3% 1y 0.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 40
Employment
204,6802023
0.0% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 74
Productivity / employee
€104,3872025
3.3% 1y 5.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 86
Gross value added
€18,454M2023
4.1% 1y 4.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 81
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€18,454M
2023 · EU pctl 81
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€120M
2023 · EU pctl 43
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,690M
2023 · EU pctl 90
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,957M
2023 · EU pctl 80
GVA — construction (F)
€813M
2023 · EU pctl 74
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,515M
2023 · EU pctl 84
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€28,000
2023 · EU pctl 75 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
37,900 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 66
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€42,500
2023 · EU pctl 70
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€34,670M
2023 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€6,008M
2023 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€125,036M
2023 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,929M
2023 · EU pctl 80
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,387M
2023 · EU pctl 78
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€17,262M
2025 · EU pctl 80
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€104,387
2025 · EU pctl 86
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,084M
2025 · EU pctl 72
Labour market
Employment, total persons
204,680
2023 · EU pctl 74
Self-employed persons
19,100
2023 · EU pctl 56
Employment in manufacturing (C)
25,920
2023 · EU pctl 66
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
78.8%
2025 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
6.8%
2025 · EU pctl 17 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
2025 · EU pctl 40
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
247,300
2025 · EU pctl 77
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
17,569
2023 · EU pctl 57
Enterprise births
1,607
2023 · EU pctl 57
Enterprise deaths
1,611
2023 · EU pctl 64
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
2023 · EU pctl 45
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
4.0%
2023 · EU pctl 89 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
6.3%
2025 · EU pctl 81 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.4%
2023 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
38.8%
2025 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
46.1%
2025 · EU pctl 71 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
11.3%
2025 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
27.8%
2025 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.5%
2025 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
947,493
2024 · EU pctl 52
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
585 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 43 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
21,625 kt
2025 · EU pctl 90
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,308
CURRENT · EU pctl 84
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
483
CURRENT · EU pctl 59
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
29
CURRENT · EU pctl 23
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
5
CURRENT · EU pctl 96
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
301,995
2025 · EU pctl 75
Population aged 65+
105,888
2025 · EU pctl 76
Population aged under 15
70,105
2025 · EU pctl 77
Median age of population
45.6 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 44
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.1%
2025 · EU pctl 40
Crude rate of total population change
3.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 65
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 72
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 64
Crude death rate
12.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 59
Live births
3,965
2024 · EU pctl 78
Deaths
5,809
2024 · EU pctl 80
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.3%
2025 · EU pctl 43
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.43
2024 · EU pctl 56
Population density (persons per km²)
682 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 86
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
519,699
2100 · EU pctl 82
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,020 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
240 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
43.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 78
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
336 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 73
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,331 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 77
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)
74 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 21
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
10 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 60
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 30
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.
14
2024 · EU pctl 36
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).
53
2024 · EU pctl 43
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
55.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 73
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
3.3%
2021 · EU pctl 52
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions