NUTS-3 BG332 · Bulgaria
Population
145,2072025
GDP
€1,334M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
4,722 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG332 · LT029
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Utenos apskritis (Opportunity 28). Runner-up: Добрич (28). Contrarian pick: Добрич — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Cost advantage (80) · Air quality (69)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
#2Добрич
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Growth momentum (72)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Utenos apskritis
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 0) — Добрич may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Добрич · Manufacturing → Utenos apskritis · Office → Utenos apskritis · Residential → Utenos apskritis.
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
27.6
28.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
33.3
28.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
23.4
38.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
68.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
25.0
41.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
66.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
71.8
57.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.3% 5y
0.4% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.6% 5y
10.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,184
€15,238
Population density
31 /km²
17 /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)
€1,163M
€1,674M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€132M
€86M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€198M
€555M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€155M
€299M
GVA — construction (F)
€53M
€92M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€299M
€312M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€14,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
14,800 PPS
19,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,100
€15,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,591M
€10,284M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€277M
€1,567M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,059M
€21,259M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€148M
€186M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€11M
€32M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€202M
€287M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€279M
€342M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€976M
€1,408M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€24,762
€36,437
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€271M
€490M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
68,390
55,130
Self-employed persons
24,040
8,020
Employment in manufacturing (C)
7,810
11,740
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.6%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
15.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
7.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
69,100
62,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,465
10,692
Enterprise births
753
2,192
Enterprise deaths
1,206
1,811
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.5%
6.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
2.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.0%
42.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.4%
52.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
9.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.0%
26.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
9.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.7%
87.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,749,331
364,529
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
611 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,458 kt
2,151 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2
1,692
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
8 km/1000km²
7 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
1,379
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
48
98
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)
87,375
77,576
Population aged 65+
39,403
31,988
Population aged under 15
18,429
13,138
Median age of population
50.9 yrs
51.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
45.1%
41.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-9.8 /1k
-28.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.3 /1k
-14.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.8 /1k
4.7 /1k
Crude death rate
19.9 /1k
18.4 /1k
Live births
993
581
Deaths
2,907
2,294
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
66.2%
58.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.70
0.96
Population density (persons per km²)
31 /km²
19 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
85,857
38,470
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.7%
30.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.4 yrs
77.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
26.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
605 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,126 /100k
1,630 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
259 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.0 /100k
1.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.2 /100k
3.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
58.0 /100k
26.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
286 /100k
193 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
83 /M
49 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.94
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
1.19
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
1.23
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.86
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.96
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.136/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.050/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
240 m
139 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
23 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
57 days/yr
116 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr