Stuttgart's population is, at just over 1/2 million inhabitants, deceptively small. Actually the city is the commercial, administrative and financial hub of an advanced high technology region called the Mittlerer Neckarraum (Middle Neckar Region) with approximately 2.5 million inhabitants. Within a short distance major towns like Ludwigsburg, Waiblingen, Esslingen, Reutlingen, Goeppingen, Heilbron, Leonberg, Sindelfingen and Boeblingen struggle for traditional Swabian independence from Stuttgart's economic magnet.

 

 

 

The hometown of Porsche...

 

The home town to Daimler-Chrysler, Porsche, Bosch, Alcatel - Lucent and many other well-known names has an international atmosphere of high-power business on a global scale with the charm of a provincial town. It is difficult to compare the economic data of countries as results depend on how parameters are measured and statistics are prepared. The region of Baden-Württemberg has some remarkable figures in any case:

• The region has a population of just over 9 million.
• The economy is bigger than the economies of Switzerland, Scandanavia and the Benelux countries.
• There is a trade surplus with Japan.
• The economic activity represents about 1.7% of the world economy.