NUTS-3 DEA32 · Germany
Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt
Gelsenkirchen, Kreisfreie Stadt generates €10bn of GDP across 267.9k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 61.3/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +4.1%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 2.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for jobs (68.5th EU percentile) and weakest for clean environment (19.3th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable63 → 59 EU percentile since 1995 (-4 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)
Connectivity70
Industrial base63
Labour market60
Governance56
Economic base55
Resilience54
Demographic outlook51
Freight intensity48
Quality of life45
Growth momentum43
Energy cost36
Cost advantage33
Talent & skills33
Air quality19
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)
61.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth42.6
Livability44.5
Market access97
Economic scale61
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 stability44
Labour stability63
Diversification28
Demographic stability80
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)
70.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density46
Airport access68
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)
33
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary32
Lifelong learning29
Knowledge workers31
Scientists & engineers40
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)
19.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.510.2 µg/m³
PM1018 µg/m³
NO223.2 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)
44.5
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy61
Jobs68.5
Education29.5
Health37.5
Safety50
Connectivity46
Environment19.3
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
42.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+4.1%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+2.5%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.1 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.6%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.1 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 · 29.7%Diversified · HHI 2403
Agriculture 0.1%Industry 27.5%Construction 4.9%Trade · transport · ICT 15.5%Finance · real estate · prof. 22.3%Public · health · education 29.7%
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)
€10,279M2023
1.8% 1y 4.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 61
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€8,640M2025
0.2% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 60
Population
267,9302025
0.2% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Unemployment rate
3.4%2025
3.0% 1y 14.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 24
Employment
117,8502023
0.3% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 50
Productivity / employee
€91,8272025
3.3% 1y 5.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 69
Gross value added
€9,389M2023
3.2% 1y 4.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 61
All indicators · 83 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€9,389M
2023 · EU pctl 61
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€6M
2023 · EU pctl 3
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,581M
2023 · EU pctl 67
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,886M
2023 · EU pctl 64
GVA — construction (F)
€457M
2023 · EU pctl 50
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,456M
2023 · EU pctl 51
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€27,000
2023 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
34,400 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 55
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€38,600
2023 · EU pctl 60
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€20,727M
2023 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,530M
2023 · EU pctl 54 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€59,763M
2023 · EU pctl 78 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,097M
2023 · EU pctl 62
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,792M
2023 · EU pctl 72
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,640M
2025 · EU pctl 60
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€91,827
2025 · EU pctl 69
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,962M
2025 · EU pctl 54
Labour market
Employment, total persons
117,850
2023 · EU pctl 50
Self-employed persons
7,940
2023 · EU pctl 27
Employment in manufacturing (C)
9,940
2023 · EU pctl 28
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
79.1%
2025 · EU pctl 62 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
4.6%
2019 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
2025 · EU pctl 24
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
144,400
2025 · EU pctl 57
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,830
2023 · EU pctl 28
Enterprise births
674
2023 · EU pctl 34
Enterprise deaths
709
2023 · EU pctl 39
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
2023 · EU pctl 32
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.2%
2023 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.3%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.6%
2023 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
30.1%
2025 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
35.3%
2025 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
8.7%
2025 · EU pctl 29 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
20.6%
2025 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.7%
2025 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
308,463
2024 · EU pctl 19
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
590 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 45 · 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.
969
CURRENT · EU pctl 53
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,391 kt
2025 · EU pctl 51
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
362
CURRENT · EU pctl 46
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
38
CURRENT · EU pctl 32
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)
170,149
2025 · EU pctl 54
Population aged 65+
54,700
2025 · EU pctl 46
Population aged under 15
43,081
2025 · EU pctl 59
Median age of population
42.8 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 17
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.1%
2025 · EU pctl 22
Crude rate of total population change
2.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 59
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 53
Crude birth rate
10.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 96
Crude death rate
12.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 65
Live births
2,669
2024 · EU pctl 66
Deaths
3,379
2024 · EU pctl 56
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.5%
2025 · EU pctl 38
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
2024 · EU pctl 93
Population density (persons per km²)
2,549 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 97
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
284,017
2100 · EU pctl 62
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,053 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
246 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 30
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
88.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 92
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
528 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 91
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
2,076 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 92
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
35 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 28 · 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)
68 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 20
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 52
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 31
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 41
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
18
2024 · EU pctl 73
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
23
2024 · EU pctl 94
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)
9.2%
2021 · EU pctl 84
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions