NUTS-3 DEA57 · Germany
Hochsauerlandkreis
Hochsauerlandkreis generates €12bn of GDP across 260.8k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 61.8/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +3.3%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 2.2pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for digital connectivity (90th EU percentile) and weakest for health (26th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader75 → 73 EU percentile since 1995 (-2 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 intensity97
Industrial base84
Connectivity80
Economic base73
Governance56
Quality of life56
Resilience54
Labour market42
Growth momentum39
Demographic outlook39
Cost advantage36
Energy cost36
Talent & skills28
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)
61.8
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth39.2
Livability55.8
Market access86
Economic scale66
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)
54.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability81
Labour stability43
Diversification44
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)
80
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density90
Airport access64
Market access86
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)
28
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary20
Lifelong learning44
Knowledge workers19
Scientists & engineers29
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)
55.8
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy68.5
Jobs44
Education38.5
Health26
Safety68
Connectivity90
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
+3.3%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.5%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.2 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.9 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.2 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.4 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 · 32.1%Diversified · HHI 2289
Agriculture 2%Industry 32.1%Construction 6%Trade · transport · ICT 16.3%Finance · real estate · prof. 20.5%Public · health · education 23.1%
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)
€11,716M2023
3.6% 1y 3.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 66
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€9,864M2025
0.2% 1y 0.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 65
Population
260,8432025
0.1% 1y 0.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 51
Unemployment rate
4.7%2025
30.6% 1y 10.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 55
Employment
152,1502023
0.1% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 63
Productivity / employee
€81,3352025
3.3% 1y 4.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 44
Gross value added
€10,702M2023
5.1% 1y 3.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 67
All indicators · 81 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€10,702M
2023 · EU pctl 67
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€214M
2023 · EU pctl 62
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,433M
2023 · EU pctl 78
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,957M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — construction (F)
€642M
2023 · EU pctl 64
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,746M
2023 · EU pctl 58
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€26,700
2023 · EU pctl 64 · 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)
€29,556M
2023 · EU pctl 79 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€4,134M
2023 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€86,336M
2023 · EU pctl 87 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,194M
2023 · EU pctl 64
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,472M
2023 · EU pctl 68
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€9,864M
2025 · EU pctl 65
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€81,335
2025 · EU pctl 44
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,294M
2025 · EU pctl 61
Labour market
Employment, total persons
152,150
2023 · EU pctl 63
Self-employed persons
12,520
2023 · EU pctl 42
Employment in manufacturing (C)
38,090
2023 · EU pctl 80
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.4%
2025 · EU pctl 47 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
9.5%
2025 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.7%
2025 · EU pctl 55
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
126,200
2025 · EU pctl 51
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,352
2023 · EU pctl 41
Enterprise births
712
2023 · EU pctl 36
Enterprise deaths
761
2023 · EU pctl 41
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.5%
2023 · EU pctl 20
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.8%
2023 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.4%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.1%
2023 · EU pctl 48 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
27.3%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
32.4%
2025 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
9.7%
2025 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
18.7%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.2%
2025 · EU pctl 29 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
3,569,719
2024 · EU pctl 81
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
603 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 55 · 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.
2,484
CURRENT · EU pctl 86
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,382 kt
2025 · EU pctl 85
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
952
CURRENT · EU pctl 90
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
42
CURRENT · EU pctl 35
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)
163,414
2025 · EU pctl 51
Population aged 65+
62,310
2025 · EU pctl 53
Population aged under 15
35,119
2025 · EU pctl 50
Median age of population
48.0 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 68
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.1%
2025 · EU pctl 58
Crude rate of total population change
-1.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 35
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 38
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 56
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 67
Live births
2,097
2024 · EU pctl 55
Deaths
3,322
2024 · EU pctl 55
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.6%
2025 · EU pctl 53
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
2024 · EU pctl 73
Population density (persons per km²)
134 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 51
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
247,055
2100 · EU pctl 56
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,106 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 69 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
256 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 31
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
28.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 61
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
184 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 44
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
930 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 59
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
23 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 6 · 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)
401 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 73
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 12
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
71 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 64
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 73
Environment
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
60.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 76
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
4.0%
2021 · EU pctl 60
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions