NUTS-3 BG344 · Bulgaria
Population
288,7362025
GDP
€6,473M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,155 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG344 · HR031
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Primorsko-goranska županija (Opportunity 43). Runner-up: Стара Загора (34). Contrarian pick: Стара Загора — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Growth momentum (75)
Red flags
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Industrial base (75)
Red flags
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Primorsko-goranska županija
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 0) — Стара Загора may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Primorsko-goranska županija · Manufacturing → Стара Загора · Office → Primorsko-goranska županija · Residential → Primorsko-goranska županija.
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
34.0
43.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
8.8
20.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
27.1
30.4
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
55.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
22.0
46.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.3
36.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
57.8
75.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.5% 5y
6.9% 5y
Population
0.7% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.0% 5y
5.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€22,417
€25,143
Population density
56 /km²
74 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,647M
€5,546M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€97M
€50M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,699M
€1,020M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,343M
€902M
GVA — construction (F)
€151M
€360M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€636M
€1,895M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,200
€11,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,200 PPS
35,200 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€22,400
€25,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,872M
€7,641M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€382M
€658M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,209M
€13,216M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€272M
€573M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€28M
€164M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€450M
€1,186M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€614M
€1,035M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,811M
€5,313M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€55,460
€56,601
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,205M
€2,048M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,540
126,030
Self-employed persons
34,720
18,100
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,090
14,550
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.5%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.3%
18.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.5%
5.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
130,500
121,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
14,865
21,226
Enterprise births
1,411
2,497
Enterprise deaths
2,119
1,272
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
5.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.4%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
31.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.5%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.3%
6.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.4%
23.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.4%
6.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.6%
87.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
657,087
15,492,740
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
450 /1k
549 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
10,024 kt
7,883 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
—
67
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
11 km/1000km²
27 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
—
25
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
69
17
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
174,874
163,527
Population aged 65+
71,604
70,753
Population aged under 15
42,258
31,710
Median age of population
47.8 yrs
48.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.9%
43.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.6 /1k
4.2 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
11.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.8 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude death rate
16.3 /1k
14.2 /1k
Live births
2,546
1,715
Deaths
4,719
3,758
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.1%
62.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.94
1.20
Population density (persons per km²)
57 /km²
74 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
207,025
179,324
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
35.8%
20.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.7 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
27.0%
19.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
797 /100k
531 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,099 /100k
1,391 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
215 /100k
295 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.5 /100k
22.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
62.0 /100k
238 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
365 /100k
439 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
79 /M
75 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.30
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.43
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.11
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.73
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.126/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
386 m
881 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
34 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
90 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
33 days/yr