NUTS-3 BG333 · Bulgaria
Population
149,2792025
GDP
€1,384M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,405.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG333 · BG313
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Враца (Opportunity 31). Runner-up: Шумен (30).
#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%)
#2Шумен
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Growth momentum (77)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (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) — Шумен may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Враца 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
30.4
31.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
38.8
10.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
26.6
25.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
18.0
13.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
15.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
77.0
77.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.9% 5y
2.6% 5y
Population
0.4% 5y
1.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.3% 5y
10.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,269
€14,848
Population density
44 /km²
40 /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)
€1,207M
€1,891M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€112M
€91M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€254M
€1,044M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€199M
€354M
GVA — construction (F)
€67M
€32M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€233M
€195M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€6,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,000 PPS
23,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,300
€14,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,591M
€866M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€277M
€154M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,059M
€2,572M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€129M
€146M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€10M
€9M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€219M
€193M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€322M
€335M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,013M
€1,441M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€23,276
€44,754
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€281M
€365M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
72,790
59,100
Self-employed persons
23,240
14,090
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,150
8,720
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.6%
70.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
23.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
7.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
72,400
65,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,423
5,634
Enterprise births
654
586
Enterprise deaths
1,012
763
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.5%
4.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
1.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.0%
27.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.4%
30.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
7.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.0%
18.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
5.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.7%
87.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
84,000
134,374
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
472 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,109 kt
4,819 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
1
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
1
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
66
83
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)
91,448
88,665
Population aged 65+
38,385
36,997
Population aged under 15
19,446
20,340
Median age of population
49.4 yrs
49.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.0%
41.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.8 /1k
-11.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.6 /1k
-0.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.2 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
16.6 /1k
19.0 /1k
Live births
1,077
1,233
Deaths
2,488
2,793
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.2%
64.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.66
1.90
Population density (persons per km²)
44 /km²
41 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
120,112
65,386
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.7%
33.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.4 yrs
73.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
25.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
605 /100k
964 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,126 /100k
2,350 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
248 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.7 /100k
12.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
24.1 /100k
39.3 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
288 /100k
425 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
83 /M
148 /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)
221 m
198 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
37 days/yr
38 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
65 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
6 days/yr