NUTS-3 DEA2D · Germany
Städteregion Aachen
Städteregion Aachen generates €26bn of GDP across 582.4k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 75/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +3.8%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 3.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (78th EU percentile) and weakest for safety (41th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader79 → 74 EU percentile since 1995 (-5 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)
Connectivity80
Economic base73
Talent & skills70
Resilience67
Air quality64
Quality of life63
Governance56
Growth momentum55
Labour market55
Industrial base54
Energy cost36
Cost advantage25
Freight intensity23
Demographic outlook14
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)
75
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth55.2
Livability62.8
Market access95
Economic scale87
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)
67.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability87
Labour stability58
Diversification34
Demographic stability90
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)
80.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density77
Airport access69
Market access95
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)
63.7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.57.7 µg/m³
PM1012.5 µg/m³
NO212.3 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)
62.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy74
Jobs58
Education78
Health46.5
Safety41
Connectivity77
Environment65
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
55.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.8%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.1%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.3 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.4 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.9%
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: Public · health · education · 28.5%Diversified · HHI 2355
Agriculture 0.3%Industry 24.5%Construction 3.7%Trade · transport · ICT 20.1%Finance · real estate · prof. 22.9%Public · health · education 28.5%
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)
€26,081M2023
6.7% 1y 3.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€22,284M2025
0.2% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 86
Population
582,4102025
0.0% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Unemployment rate
3.8%2025
5.6% 1y 2.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 37
Employment
308,7102023
0.6% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 86
Productivity / employee
€89,3472025
3.3% 1y 4.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 64
Gross value added
€23,822M2023
8.3% 1y 4.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 87
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€23,822M
2023 · EU pctl 87
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€64M
2023 · EU pctl 26
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,828M
2023 · EU pctl 90
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,262M
2023 · EU pctl 89
GVA — construction (F)
€893M
2023 · EU pctl 77
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€4,782M
2023 · EU pctl 85
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)
40,000 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 73
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€44,900
2023 · EU pctl 75
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)
€5,457M
2023 · EU pctl 85
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€6,799M
2023 · EU pctl 91
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€22,284M
2025 · EU pctl 86
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€89,347
2025 · EU pctl 64
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,981M
2025 · EU pctl 78
Labour market
Employment, total persons
308,710
2023 · EU pctl 86
Self-employed persons
23,710
2023 · EU pctl 63
Employment in manufacturing (C)
39,970
2023 · EU pctl 81
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)
3.8%
2025 · EU pctl 37
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
314,200
2025 · EU pctl 85
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
21,374
2023 · EU pctl 62
Enterprise births
1,817
2023 · EU pctl 59
Enterprise deaths
1,881
2023 · EU pctl 67
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
2023 · EU pctl 41
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)
1,491,102
2024 · EU pctl 62
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.
4,007
CURRENT · EU pctl 94
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,070 kt
2025 · EU pctl 64
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
688
CURRENT · EU pctl 77
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
37
CURRENT · EU pctl 31
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)
383,763
2025 · EU pctl 84
Population aged 65+
123,756
2025 · EU pctl 82
Population aged under 15
74,891
2025 · EU pctl 78
Median age of population
42.5 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 15
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.2%
2025 · EU pctl 22
Crude rate of total population change
-0.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 44
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 36
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 51
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Live births
4,537
2024 · EU pctl 82
Deaths
6,445
2024 · EU pctl 84
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
51.8%
2025 · EU pctl 10
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.21
2024 · EU pctl 22
Population density (persons per km²)
830 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 88
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
518,459
2100 · EU pctl 81
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
1.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
63.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 88
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
479 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 88
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,673 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 85
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)
236 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 53
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 30
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
47 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 37
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 26
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 24
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
12
2024 · EU pctl 49
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
58
2024 · EU pctl 71
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
36.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 60
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
0.6%
2021 · EU pctl 14
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions