NUTS-3 BG342 · Bulgaria
Population
169,2992025
GDP
€1,137M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,539.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG342 · HU313
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Nógrád (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Сливен (21). Contrarian pick: Сливен — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 100).
#1Nógrád
Strengths
Cost advantage (96) · Industrial base (68)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
#2Сливен
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Energy cost (65)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Nógrád
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 1) — Сливен may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Nógrád 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
21.3
29.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
24.0
25.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
19.3
23.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
11.5
54.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.3
17.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.0
52.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
8.9% 5y
1.8% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.4% 5y
4.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€6,714
€9,895
Population density
48 /km²
70 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€992M
€1,520M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€67M
€64M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€76M
€356M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€60M
€333M
GVA — construction (F)
€58M
€101M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€250M
€254M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,200
€8,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
10,800 PPS
13,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€6,700
€9,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,872M
€3,870M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€382M
€1,489M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,209M
€6,296M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€158M
€141M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€16M
€26M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€220M
€253M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€321M
€493M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€494M
€1,310M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€18,238
€38,181
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€212M
€456M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,620
48,980
Self-employed persons
34,710
5,770
Employment in manufacturing (C)
11,920
12,420
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.5%
75.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.3%
16.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.6%
6.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
74,200
84,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
6,813
11,172
Enterprise births
732
1,154
Enterprise deaths
1,002
346
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.2%
6.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.4%
4.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
21.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.5%
20.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.3%
11.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.4%
15.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.4%
4.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.6%
93.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
95,276
145,689
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
450 /1k
400 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
—
1,480
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,526 kt
1,452 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
11 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
—
828
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
103
63
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)
99,394
112,950
Population aged 65+
38,157
39,991
Population aged under 15
31,748
25,874
Median age of population
44.6 yrs
46.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.4%
35.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.4 /1k
-9.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.6 /1k
-1.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
12.5 /1k
8.5 /1k
Crude death rate
15.3 /1k
15.8 /1k
Live births
2,117
1,523
Deaths
2,590
2,836
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
70.3%
58.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
2.58
1.61
Population density (persons per km²)
48 /km²
71 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
143,707
149,714
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
35.8%
30.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.7 yrs
75.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
27.0%
23.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
797 /100k
696 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,099 /100k
1,883 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
215 /100k
334 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
11.8 /100k
4.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
74.7 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
421 /100k
888 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
79 /M
52 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.171/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
190 m
218 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
42 days/yr
19 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
52 days/yr
83 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr