NUTS-3 BG323 · Bulgaria
Population
186,0932025
GDP
€2,169M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,856.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG323 · EL631
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Русе (Opportunity 27). Runner-up: Αιτωλοακαρνανία (22).
#1Русе
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Freight intensity (83)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (88) · Energy cost (58)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Русе
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Αιτωλοακαρνανία may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Русе leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
26.8
21.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
24.0
31.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
18.6
27.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
17.7
4.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
22.0
5.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
56.6
42.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.1% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
1.2% 5y
1.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
6.0% 5y
15.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€11,658
€14,966
Population density
65 /km²
34 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,893M
€2,399M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€91M
€248M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€397M
€435M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€355M
€246M
GVA — construction (F)
€74M
€68M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€593M
€623M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,500
€11,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
18,800 PPS
17,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€11,600
€14,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,276M
€1,755M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€285M
€79M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€3,129M
€3,384M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€176M
€348M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€24M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€308M
€463M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€430M
€562M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,820M
€2,490M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€27,451
€34,900
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€506M
€584M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
97,090
85,580
Self-employed persons
21,230
40,780
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,930
5,410
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.1%
66.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
20.3%
27.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
9.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
83,800
76,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,023
14,011
Enterprise births
1,124
987
Enterprise deaths
1,582
614
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
1.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.7%
1.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
1.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.2%
21.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.6%
26.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.9%
4.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.4%
14.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.2%
5.2%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.0%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
173,093
451,824
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
492 /1k
318 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,835 kt
5,607 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
6
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
0 km/1000km²
20 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
3
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
89
149
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
112,597
109,780
Population aged 65+
50,567
49,808
Population aged under 15
22,929
24,132
Median age of population
50.2 yrs
50.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.9%
45.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-9.3 /1k
-13.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.4 /1k
-6.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.8 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
18.5 /1k
14.1 /1k
Live births
1,277
1,232
Deaths
3,455
2,603
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.3%
67.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.60
1.43
Population density (persons per km²)
67 /km²
36 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
125,675
118,105
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.8%
27.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
74.9 yrs
81.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.5%
23.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
798 /100k
316 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,261 /100k
1,085 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
223 /100k
234 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
2.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.3 /100k
5.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
61.2 /100k
84.3 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
365 /100k
303 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
76 /M
93 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
151 m
407 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
35 days/yr
60 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
57 days/yr
17 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
20 days/yr