NUTS-3 DEB34 · Germany
Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Kreisfreie Stadt
Ludwigshafen am Rhein, Kreisfreie Stadt generates €14bn of GDP across 177.2k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 62.7/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by market access and economic scale. Its economy has grown +0.3%/yr over five years and cooling, with the employment rate up 3.1pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for economy (85.5th EU percentile) and weakest for clean environment (21.3th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Enduring leader99 → 95 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)
Industrial base99
Economic base97
Freight intensity77
Labour market76
Connectivity63
Demographic outlook58
Talent & skills58
Quality of life57
Governance56
Resilience44
Energy cost36
Growth momentum32
Cost advantage26
Air quality21
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)
62.7
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth32.4
Livability56.5
Market access90
Economic scale72
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)
43.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability15
Labour stability81
Diversification1
Demographic stability77
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)
63.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density58
Airport access42
Market access90
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)
57.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary52
Lifelong learning49
Knowledge workers61
Scientists & engineers68
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)
21.3
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.510.7 µg/m³
PM1017.7 µg/m³
NO219.9 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)
56.5
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy85.5
Jobs67
Education75.5
Health45
Safety43
Connectivity58
Environment21.3
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
32.4
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+0.3%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+1.2%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.9 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-3.9 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.6%
CAGR
Employment rate
+3.1 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
0.0 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 · 54.5%Concentrated · HHI 3588
Agriculture 0.1%Industry 54.5%Construction 2.9%Trade · transport · ICT 12.4%Finance · real estate · prof. 15.4%Public · health · education 14.7%
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)
€14,067M2023
18.7% 1y 0.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 72
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€11,952M2025
0.2% 1y 1.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 72
Population
177,2222025
0.8% 1y 0.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 36
Unemployment rate
4.0%2025
21.2% 1y 3.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 43
Employment
125,9502023
0.8% 1y 0.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Productivity / employee
€116,9722025
3.3% 1y 2.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 92
Gross value added
€12,849M2023
20.4% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 72
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€12,849M
2023 · EU pctl 72
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€9M
2023 · EU pctl 6
GVA — industry (B–E)
€7,006M
2023 · EU pctl 92
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€6,641M
2023 · EU pctl 94
GVA — construction (F)
€379M
2023 · EU pctl 42
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,593M
2023 · EU pctl 54
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€27,700
2023 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
71,700 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 97
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€80,500
2023 · EU pctl 97
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€20,699M
2023 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€4,472M
2023 · EU pctl 80 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€49,098M
2023 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,975M
2023 · EU pctl 61
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,886M
2023 · EU pctl 59
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€11,952M
2025 · EU pctl 72
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€116,972
2025 · EU pctl 92
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,023M
2025 · EU pctl 71
Labour market
Employment, total persons
125,950
2023 · EU pctl 53
Self-employed persons
5,900
2023 · EU pctl 17
Employment in manufacturing (C)
45,260
2023 · EU pctl 85
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
81.3%
2025 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
6.4%
2019 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
2025 · EU pctl 43
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
99,100
2025 · EU pctl 41
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
4,724
2023 · EU pctl 17
Enterprise births
515
2023 · EU pctl 26
Enterprise deaths
510
2023 · EU pctl 27
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
2023 · EU pctl 64
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
5.3%
2023 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
6.4%
2025 · EU pctl 82 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
2.1%
2023 · EU pctl 83 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
36.8%
2025 · EU pctl 57 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
41.9%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
10.1%
2025 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
25.1%
2025 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
9.8%
2025 · EU pctl 68 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
316,503
2024 · EU pctl 20
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
621 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 64 · 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.
845
CURRENT · EU pctl 48
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,488 kt
2025 · EU pctl 52
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
477
CURRENT · EU pctl 58
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
61
CURRENT · EU pctl 58
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
3
CURRENT · EU pctl 75
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
115,946
2025 · EU pctl 38
Population aged 65+
33,627
2025 · EU pctl 27
Population aged under 15
27,649
2025 · EU pctl 41
Median age of population
41.6 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 10
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
29.0%
2025 · EU pctl 11
Crude rate of total population change
8.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 87
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 80
Crude birth rate
10.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 96
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 36
Live births
1,789
2024 · EU pctl 48
Deaths
1,903
2024 · EU pctl 30
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.8%
2025 · EU pctl 12
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
2024 · EU pctl 88
Population density (persons per km²)
2,354 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 97
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
181,361
2100 · EU pctl 42
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,015 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
231 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 74
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
69.4 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 89
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
351 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 74
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
1,813 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 88
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
25 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 9 · 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)
95 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 26
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 79
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
49 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 39
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 33
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 71
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
20
2024 · EU pctl 87
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
47
2024 · EU pctl 15
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
24.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 45
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
14.3%
2021 · EU pctl 93
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions