NUTS-3 BG331 · Bulgaria
Population
437,5212025
GDP
€6,616M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,820.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG331 · PL428
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Szczeciński (Opportunity 46). Runner-up: Варна (41). Contrarian pick: Варна — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Cost advantage (88) · Energy cost (79)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Szczeciński
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 13) — Варна may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Варна · Manufacturing → Szczeciński · Office → Szczeciński · Residential → Варна.
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
41.3
45.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
32.0
29.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.1
44.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.0
46.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
46.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
86.2
64.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
0.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.3% 5y
0.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€15,123
€15,277
Population density
115 /km²
65 /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)
€5,773M
€6,706M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€98M
€327M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€871M
€1,820M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€684M
€1,396M
GVA — construction (F)
€399M
€596M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,959M
€1,780M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€11,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,600 PPS
21,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€15,200
€14,700
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,591M
€5,453M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€277M
€756M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,059M
€9,982M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€519M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€218M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,276M
€960M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,169M
€1,223M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,845M
€6,366M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€38,792
€44,465
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,345M
€1,779M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
224,150
207,400
Self-employed persons
53,410
38,700
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,710
45,700
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.6%
73.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
10.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
2.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
220,900
231,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
31,950
34,617
Enterprise births
3,721
3,684
Enterprise deaths
5,900
5,058
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.0%
38.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.4%
40.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
6.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.0%
26.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
8.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.7%
95.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,752,786
5,786,709
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
599 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,600 kt
16,847 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3
652
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
8 km/1000km²
1 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
134
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
16
26
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
279,200
313,673
Population aged 65+
94,625
103,355
Population aged under 15
63,696
68,746
Median age of population
45.3 yrs
44.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.9%
32.9%
Crude rate of total population change
7.6 /1k
-2.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.8 /1k
3.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.1 /1k
Crude death rate
13.5 /1k
11.5 /1k
Live births
3,632
2,945
Deaths
5,897
5,588
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.7%
54.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.09
Population density (persons per km²)
115 /km²
67 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
375,315
328,344
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.7%
15.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.4 yrs
77.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
12.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
605 /100k
1,257 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,126 /100k
1,526 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
288 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
22.1 /100k
8.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
38.7 /100k
117 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
646 /100k
225 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
83 /M
62 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
186 m
54 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
70 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr