NUTS-3 BG313 · Bulgaria
Population
146,0022025
GDP
€2,168M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,616.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG313 · HR028
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Враца (Opportunity 31). Runner-up: Sisačko-moslavačka županija (29). Contrarian pick: Sisačko-moslavačka županija — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 71).
#1Враца
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Growth momentum (78)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (93) · Growth momentum (74)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Враца
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Resilience (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Sisačko-moslavačka županija may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Sisačko-moslavačka županija · Manufacturing → Враца · Office → Sisačko-moslavačka županija · Residential → Sisačko-moslavačka županija.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
31.1
29.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
10.3
32.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.4
16.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
8.3
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
13.3
29.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
15.5
12.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
77.8
74.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
7.0% 5y
Population
1.3% 5y
1.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.5% 5y
9.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€14,848
€16,788
Population density
40 /km²
30 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,891M
€1,866M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€91M
€208M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,044M
€257M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€354M
€193M
GVA — construction (F)
€32M
€307M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€195M
€243M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,100
€10,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
23,900 PPS
23,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,800
€16,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€866M
€3,386M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€154M
€560M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€2,572M
€7,231M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€146M
€312M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€9M
€25M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€193M
€415M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€335M
€435M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,441M
€1,770M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,754
€42,383
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€365M
€568M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
59,100
56,620
Self-employed persons
14,090
7,410
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,720
10,520
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.9%
68.1%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.1%
24.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
7.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
65,500
55,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,634
5,024
Enterprise births
586
672
Enterprise deaths
763
273
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.6%
6.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
0.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.8%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.7%
20.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
30.5%
31.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.3%
4.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
18.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.5%
5.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.3%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
134,374
56,029
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
476 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,819 kt
4,436 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
41
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
1 km/1000km²
18 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
31
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
83
56
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
88,665
82,194
Population aged 65+
36,997
34,757
Population aged under 15
20,340
17,057
Median age of population
49.1 yrs
48.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.7%
42.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-11.0 /1k
-8.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.4 /1k
0.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
19.0 /1k
16.8 /1k
Live births
1,233
1,003
Deaths
2,793
2,266
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.7%
63.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.90
1.54
Population density (persons per km²)
41 /km²
31 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
65,386
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.5%
30.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
73.9 yrs
77.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.3%
28.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
964 /100k
561 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,350 /100k
1,784 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
248 /100k
308 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
12.2 /100k
5.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
39.3 /100k
188 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
425 /100k
243 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
148 /M
92 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.30
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.43
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.11
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.73
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.126/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
198 m
154 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
28 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
65 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
9 days/yr