NUTS-3 ES130 · Spain
Cantabria
Cantabria generates €17bn of GDP across 593.6k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 54.6/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +3.9%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 7.3pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (94th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (20.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable35 → 35 EU percentile since 1995 (+0 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)
Energy cost95
Freight intensity76
Digital readiness72
Talent & skills69
Cost advantage68
Growth momentum64
Air quality56
Quality of life56
Industrial base53
Resilience47
Economic base46
Governance31
Demographic outlook22
Labour market19
Connectivity18
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)
54.6
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth63.8
Livability55.7
Market access22
Economic scale77
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)
47.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability47
Labour stability10
Diversification66
Demographic stability66
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)
17.7
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density20
Airport access11
Market access22
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)
68.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary95
Lifelong learning77
Knowledge workers64
Scientists & engineers38
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)
56
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 2/3 pollutants
PM2.5—
PM1015 µg/m³
NO29.9 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)
55.7
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy39
Jobs20.5
Education58
Health94
Safety75
Connectivity46
Environment57.5
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
63.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+3.9%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+3.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.4 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-0.3 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.4%
CAGR
Employment rate
+7.3 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-4.9 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: Finance · real estate · prof. · 24.3%Diversified · HHI 2155
Agriculture 1.7%Industry 21.7%Construction 6.6%Trade · transport · ICT 23.6%Finance · real estate · prof. 24.3%Public · health · education 22.2%
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)
€16,741M2023
7.6% 1y 3.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€15,639M2025
2.8% 1y 3.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 79
Population
593,6232025
0.5% 1y 0.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 83
Unemployment rate
7.3%2025
6.4% 1y 9.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Employment
237,9002023
2.4% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 78
Productivity / employee
€75,2082025
3.0% 1y 5.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 35
Gross value added
€15,257M2023
7.7% 1y 4.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 77
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€15,257M
2023 · EU pctl 77
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€256M
2023 · EU pctl 68
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,306M
2023 · EU pctl 76
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,718M
2023 · EU pctl 76
GVA — construction (F)
€1,001M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,594M
2023 · EU pctl 79
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€18,300
2023 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
31,900 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 46
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€28,400
2023 · EU pctl 34
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€3,560M
2023 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€736M
2023 · EU pctl 17 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€7,994M
2024 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,706M
2023 · EU pctl 79
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€3,392M
2023 · EU pctl 78
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€15,639M
2025 · EU pctl 79
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€75,208
2025 · EU pctl 35
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,038M
2025 · EU pctl 79
Labour market
Employment, total persons
237,900
2023 · EU pctl 78
Self-employed persons
38,000
2023 · EU pctl 78
Employment in manufacturing (C)
31,400
2023 · EU pctl 72
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
73.8%
2025 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
19.8%
2025 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
2025 · EU pctl 78
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
286,700
2025 · EU pctl 83
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
40,384
2023 · EU pctl 81
Enterprise births
3,014
2023 · EU pctl 74
Enterprise deaths
2,707
2023 · EU pctl 75
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.0%
2023 · EU pctl 39
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.0%
2023 · EU pctl 23 · 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)
0.9%
2023 · EU pctl 40 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
47.8%
2025 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
59.8%
2025 · EU pctl 95 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
15.8%
2025 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
25.5%
2025 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.6%
2025 · EU pctl 38 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
96.6%
2025 · EU pctl 72 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
6,117,130
2024 · EU pctl 90
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
570 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 38 · 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.
96
CURRENT · EU pctl 24
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
24,662 kt
2025 · EU pctl 92
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
48 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
16
CURRENT · EU pctl 20
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
111
CURRENT · EU pctl 89
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
CURRENT · EU pctl 0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
380,589
2025 · EU pctl 84
Population aged 65+
145,544
2025 · EU pctl 88
Population aged under 15
67,490
2025 · EU pctl 75
Median age of population
48.9 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 75
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.2%
2025 · EU pctl 59
Crude rate of total population change
4.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 74
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
9.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 86
Crude birth rate
5.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 3
Crude death rate
10.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 27
Live births
3,013
2024 · EU pctl 70
Deaths
6,105
2024 · EU pctl 82
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.0%
2025 · EU pctl 27
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
0.99
2024 · EU pctl 3
Population density (persons per km²)
112 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 45
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
397,244
2100 · EU pctl 74
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
307 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 23 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
772 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
216 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 40
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
41.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 76
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
322 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 71
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
196 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 12
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
32 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.14
2022 · EU pctl 33
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.84
2022 · EU pctl 33
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
2022 · EU pctl 32
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.78
2022 · EU pctl 32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.16
2022 · EU pctl 9
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.106/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 5
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 30
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
932 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 95
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 13
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 31
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
13 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 89
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
15
2024 · EU pctl 53
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
10
2024 · EU pctl 32
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
54
2024 · EU pctl 50
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
66.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 79
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.6%
2021 · EU pctl 32
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Spain regions