Stuttgart Region

Stuttgart Region (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) is an urban agglomeration at the heart of the Stuttgart Metropolitan Region. It consists of the city of Stuttgart and the surrounding districts of Ludwigsburg, Esslingen, Böblingen, Rems-Murr and Göppingen (each 10–20 km from Stuttgart city center). About 2.7 million inhabitants live in that area (3,700 km²). In fact, with 708 people per square kilometre, the Stuttgart Region (German: Region Stuttgart) is one of the most densely populated areas in Germany. Stuttgart Region is governed by a directly elected parliament.

Situated at the heart of Baden-Württemberg, the Stuttgart Region is the hub of economic, scientific, and political life in Southwest Germany. The area currently has Germany's highest density of scientific, academic and research organisations, and tops the national league for patent applications.

The Gross Domestic Product for Stuttgart Region was recorded at about €35,000 per capita, about €64,000 per employed person and €120 billion total. The unemployment rate is 4.8 per cent. Stuttgart Region is one of Europe's economic centres. This is due not only to the influence of international companies, such as Daimler, Porsche, Robert Bosch, Celesio, Hewlett-Packard and IBM (all of whom have their world or German headquarters here), but also to the influence of medium-sized enterprises such as Behr, Kärcher, Märklin, Stihl, Festo, and Trumpf. In total, approximately 150,000 companies are located in the Stuttgart Region. 24 per cent of employees in the Stuttgart Region work in the high-tech sector – a European record.

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