NUTS-3 ES521 · Spain
Alicante/Alacant
Alicante/Alacant generates €46bn of GDP across 2m residents. Its Opportunity Index of 64.9/100 puts it in the upper quartile of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +5.0%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 5.7pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (87.3th EU percentile) and weakest for jobs (9.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Mid-field stable33 → 27 EU percentile since 1995 (-6 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
Digital readiness88
Air quality87
Growth momentum78
Cost advantage73
Talent & skills60
Demographic outlook55
Quality of life53
Connectivity49
Resilience46
Freight intensity38
Governance31
Economic base27
Industrial base21
Labour market14
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)
64.9
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth78.2
Livability53.3
Market access34
Economic scale94
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)
45.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability36
Labour stability5
Diversification44
Demographic stability98
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)
49.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density27
Airport access87
Market access34
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)
60.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary88
Lifelong learning84
Knowledge workers44
Scientists & engineers25
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)
87
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.55.8 µg/m³
PM1010.1 µg/m³
NO28.4 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)
53.3
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy27
Jobs9.5
Education51.5
Health79
Safety61
Connectivity57.5
Environment87.3
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
78.2
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+5.0%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+4.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.8 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+1.6%
CAGR
Employment rate
+5.7 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-4.6 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: Trade · transport · ICT · 28.8%Diversified · HHI 2286
Agriculture 1.3%Industry 12.1%Construction 8.1%Trade · transport · ICT 28.8%Finance · real estate · prof. 26.7%Public · health · education 23%
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)
€46,473M2023
10.8% 1y 5.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€43,576M2025
2.8% 1y 4.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Population
2,033,5662025
2.0% 1y 1.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 99
Unemployment rate
11.6%2025
12.8% 1y 8.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Employment
768,1002023
4.5% 1y 2.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 97
Productivity / employee
€65,0432025
3.0% 1y 5.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 28
Gross value added
€42,408M2023
10.9% 1y 5.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 94
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€42,408M
2023 · EU pctl 94
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€562M
2023 · EU pctl 90
GVA — industry (B–E)
€5,117M
2023 · EU pctl 88
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€4,404M
2023 · EU pctl 89
GVA — construction (F)
€3,421M
2023 · EU pctl 97
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€12,231M
2023 · EU pctl 96
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€16,000
2023 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,400 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 27
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,500
2023 · EU pctl 25
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€25,331M
2023 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€4,983M
2023 · EU pctl 83 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€70,224M
2024 · EU pctl 83 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€11,312M
2023 · EU pctl 94
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€9,766M
2023 · EU pctl 95
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€43,576M
2025 · EU pctl 95
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€65,043
2025 · EU pctl 28
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€9,561M
2025 · EU pctl 93
Labour market
Employment, total persons
768,100
2023 · EU pctl 97
Self-employed persons
130,800
2023 · EU pctl 99
Employment in manufacturing (C)
81,200
2023 · EU pctl 96
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
74.1%
2025 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
30.5%
2025 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.6%
2025 · EU pctl 95
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
1,016,200
2025 · EU pctl 99
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
153,279
2023 · EU pctl 98
Enterprise births
16,355
2023 · EU pctl 97
Enterprise deaths
12,875
2023 · EU pctl 97
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
2023 · EU pctl 63
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.2%
2023 · EU pctl 38 · 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)
1.0%
2023 · EU pctl 41 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
38.1%
2025 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
53.1%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
18.3%
2025 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
22.2%
2025 · EU pctl 44 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.0%
2025 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
98.0%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
32,579,948
2024 · EU pctl 99
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
510 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 23 · 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.
1,869
CURRENT · EU pctl 77
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
48,365 kt
2025 · EU pctl 99
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
50 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).
92
CURRENT · EU pctl 27
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
19
CURRENT · EU pctl 13
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)
1,337,664
2025 · EU pctl 99
Population aged 65+
426,265
2025 · EU pctl 99
Population aged under 15
269,637
2025 · EU pctl 98
Median age of population
45.9 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 48
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.9%
2025 · EU pctl 21
Crude rate of total population change
20.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
21.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 25
Crude death rate
8.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 8
Live births
13,207
2024 · EU pctl 97
Deaths
16,946
2024 · EU pctl 99
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.0%
2025 · EU pctl 10
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.15
2024 · EU pctl 14
Population density (persons per km²)
349 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 77
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
1,911,954
2100 · EU pctl 98
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
219 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
900 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
213 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 28 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 70
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
110 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
388 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 79
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
450 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 28
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
30 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 19 · 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)
216 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
68 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 96
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 2
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 43
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
10
2024 · EU pctl 7
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
8
2024 · EU pctl 22
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
66
2024 · EU pctl 91
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
72.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 81
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.8%
2021 · EU pctl 35
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Spain regions