NUTS-3 DEA2B · Germany
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis
Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis generates €9.2bn of GDP across 284.3k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 64.4/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and livability. Its economy has grown +2.4%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 3.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for digital connectivity (79th EU percentile) and weakest for health (46.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Long-run faller55 → 43 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)
Connectivity89
Talent & skills70
Quality of life65
Resilience58
Governance56
Labour market55
Industrial base52
Growth momentum39
Energy cost36
Demographic outlook35
Economic base34
Cost advantage25
Freight intensity9
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)
64.4
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth39.2
Livability65.4
Market access97
Economic scale56
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)
58.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability86
Labour stability59
Diversification39
Demographic stability49
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)
89
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density79
Airport access91
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.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
65.4
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy54.5
Jobs58
Education78
Health46.5
Safety76.3
Connectivity79
Environment—
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
39.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+2.4%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.6%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-1.2 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-1.8 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.1%
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: Finance · real estate · prof. · 28.5%Diversified · HHI 2317
Agriculture 0.4%Industry 19.3%Construction 5.5%Trade · transport · ICT 19.3%Finance · real estate · prof. 28.5%Public · health · education 27%
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)
€9,155M2023
2.9% 1y 2.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 56
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€7,822M2025
0.2% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 55
Population
284,2732025
0.2% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 55
Unemployment rate
3.9%2025
5.4% 1y 2.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 40
Employment
114,2302023
0.3% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 49
Productivity / employee
€84,7592025
3.3% 1y 3.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 52
Gross value added
€8,362M2023
4.4% 1y 2.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 56
All indicators · 81 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,362M
2023 · EU pctl 56
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€32M
2023 · EU pctl 14
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,617M
2023 · EU pctl 50
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,478M
2023 · EU pctl 56
GVA — construction (F)
€460M
2023 · EU pctl 50
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,613M
2023 · EU pctl 55
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)
28,800 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 34
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€32,300
2023 · EU pctl 43
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)
€2,382M
2023 · EU pctl 67
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,258M
2023 · EU pctl 66
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,822M
2025 · EU pctl 55
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€84,759
2025 · EU pctl 52
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,398M
2025 · EU pctl 38
Labour market
Employment, total persons
114,230
2023 · EU pctl 49
Self-employed persons
12,670
2023 · EU pctl 42
Employment in manufacturing (C)
16,730
2023 · EU pctl 49
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)
143,700
2025 · EU pctl 57
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
12,226
2023 · EU pctl 46
Enterprise births
962
2023 · EU pctl 43
Enterprise deaths
1,070
2023 · EU pctl 52
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
2023 · EU pctl 25
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)
252,502
2024 · EU pctl 15
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
585 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 43 · 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.
2,018
CURRENT · EU pctl 80
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,115 kt
2025 · EU pctl 21
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
710
CURRENT · EU pctl 79
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
16
CURRENT · EU pctl 9
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)
175,472
2025 · EU pctl 55
Population aged 65+
68,994
2025 · EU pctl 58
Population aged under 15
39,807
2025 · EU pctl 56
Median age of population
48.6 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 73
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.3%
2025 · EU pctl 64
Crude rate of total population change
2.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 58
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
7.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 70
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 53
Crude death rate
12.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 65
Live births
2,256
2024 · EU pctl 58
Deaths
3,579
2024 · EU pctl 59
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.0%
2025 · EU pctl 68
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
2024 · EU pctl 71
Population density (persons per km²)
656 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 86
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
259,818
2100 · EU pctl 58
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
0.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 0
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
32.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 67
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
216 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 51
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
933 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 59
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)
196 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 48
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 40
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 37
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 73
Environment
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
12.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 21
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
2.3%
2021 · EU pctl 43
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions