NUTS-3 BG324 · Bulgaria
Population
99,4592025
GDP
€909M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,413.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG324 · BG414
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Перник (Opportunity 31). Runner-up: Разград (26). Contrarian pick: Разград — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 99).
#1Перник
Strengths
Freight intensity (97) · Cost advantage (87)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Разград
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Energy cost (65)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Перник
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Разград may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Перник 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
25.7
31.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
33.5
33.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
23.0
38.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
13.0
39.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
22.0
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
56.6
67.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
5.2% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.2% 5y
11.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,139
€9,135
Population density
41 /km²
46 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€793M
€876M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€86M
€31M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€170M
€205M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€131M
€168M
GVA — construction (F)
€31M
€75M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€149M
€190M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,500
€11,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
14,700 PPS
14,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,100
€9,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,276M
€9,359M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€285M
€686M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€3,129M
€21,611M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€80M
€132M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2M
€7M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€122M
€177M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€236M
€199M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€763M
€747M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€26,029
€30,496
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€212M
€233M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
45,110
43,610
Self-employed persons
15,340
11,290
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,090
8,120
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.1%
76.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
20.3%
6.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
1.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
45,500
52,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,987
5,461
Enterprise births
442
587
Enterprise deaths
565
736
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.7%
10.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.2%
44.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
41.6%
48.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.9%
5.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
20.4%
32.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.2%
11.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.0%
95.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
49,453
38,499
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
492 /1k
525 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,559 kt
8,043 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
0 km/1000km²
15 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
102
45
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
61,080
66,878
Population aged 65+
25,536
29,096
Population aged under 15
12,843
13,912
Median age of population
50.3 yrs
49.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.8%
43.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-12.4 /1k
-10.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.8 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.4 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude death rate
17.9 /1k
20.9 /1k
Live births
642
674
Deaths
1,795
2,306
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.8%
64.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.39
Population density (persons per km²)
42 /km²
46 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
57,157
58,281
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.8%
19.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
74.9 yrs
77.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.5%
13.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
798 /100k
792 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,261 /100k
2,069 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
223 /100k
194 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
4.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
4.0 /100k
9.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
10.9 /100k
34.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
122 /100k
295 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
76 /M
40 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
-0.07
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.25
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
-0.10
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
-0.14
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.33
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.135/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.041/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
300 m
884 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
109 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr