NUTS-3 DEC02 · Germany
Merzig-Wadern
Export region data (CSV)Merzig-Wadern generates €3.4bn of GDP across 108.8k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 44.7/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by market access and livability. Its economy has grown +3.5%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 1.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for digital connectivity (83th EU percentile) and weakest for health (22.5th).
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
44.7
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth39.6
Livability49.3
Market access71
Economic scale19
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)
65.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability63
Labour stability50
Diversification55
Demographic stability93
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)
75.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density83
Airport access72
Market access71
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)
24.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary12
Lifelong learning31
Knowledge workers27
Scientists & engineers27
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)
49.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy41
Jobs52
Education37
Health22.5
Safety60.3
Connectivity83
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
39.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.5%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.6%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
-0.1 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.7 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.3 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: Public · health · education · 23.8%Diversified · HHI 2218
Agriculture 0.5%Industry 23.6%Construction 6.1%Trade · transport · ICT 22.4%Finance · real estate · prof. 23.5%Public · health · education 23.8%
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).
All indicators · 63 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,101M
2023 · EU pctl 19
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€17M
2023 · EU pctl 10
GVA — industry (B–E)
€732M
2023 · EU pctl 23
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€490M
2023 · EU pctl 21
GVA — construction (F)
€189M
2023 · EU pctl 18
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€695M
2023 · EU pctl 24
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€25,000
2023 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
27,700 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 30
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€31,000
2023 · EU pctl 39
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€8,110M
2023 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,529M
2023 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€23,975M
2023 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€729M
2023 · EU pctl 24
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€740M
2023 · EU pctl 19
Labour market
Employment, total persons
43,270
2023 · EU pctl 12
Self-employed persons
3,470
2023 · EU pctl 5
Employment in manufacturing (C)
6,730
2023 · EU pctl 17
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.9%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,284
2023 · EU pctl 8
Enterprise births
268
2023 · EU pctl 10
Enterprise deaths
318
2023 · EU pctl 15
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.8%
2023 · EU pctl 31
Innovation & R&D
EPO patent applications
15
2012 · EU pctl 47
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.6%
2023 · EU pctl 53 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.6%
2025 · EU pctl 57 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
28.1%
2025 · EU pctl 21 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
29.6%
2025 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
9.0%
2025 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
19.9%
2025 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.1%
2025 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
367,490
2024 · EU pctl 24
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
646 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 78 · 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.
859
CURRENT · EU pctl 49
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
790
CURRENT · EU pctl 83
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
34
CURRENT · EU pctl 28
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
68,018
2025 · EU pctl 17
Population aged 65+
27,013
2025 · EU pctl 18
Population aged under 15
13,748
2025 · EU pctl 15
Median age of population
48.8 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 75
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.7%
2025 · EU pctl 66
Crude rate of total population change
-5.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 16
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 24
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 23
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 77
Live births
706
2024 · EU pctl 14
Deaths
1,460
2024 · EU pctl 19
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.9%
2025 · EU pctl 55
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.20
2024 · EU pctl 21
Population density (persons per km²)
197 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 64
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
22.2%
2025 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Life expectancy at birth
79.9 yrs
2024 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,123 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
243 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 64
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
162 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 39
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
777 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 48
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
24 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
251 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 55
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 49
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 46
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 65
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Germany regions