NUTS-3 BG413 · Bulgaria
Population
286,3332025
GDP
€2,640M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
1.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
6,444.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG413 · HU332
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Благоевград (Opportunity 33). Runner-up: Békés (31). Contrarian pick: Békés — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 94).
Strengths
Cost advantage (87) · Labour market (70)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Békés
Strengths
Cost advantage (94) · Labour market (67)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Благоевград
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Békés may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Békés · Manufacturing → Благоевград · Office → Благоевград · Residential → Благоевград.
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
32.7
30.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.0
37.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
38.7
29.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
9.3
38.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
65.0
16.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
67.2
53.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
1.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
11.5% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,221
€12,403
Population density
44 /km²
55 /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)
€2,304M
€3,273M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€129M
€434M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€341M
€635M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€280M
€579M
GVA — construction (F)
€200M
€203M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€660M
€549M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,300
€9,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
14,900 PPS
17,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,200
€12,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,359M
€6,421M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€686M
€1,410M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€21,611M
€7,243M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€277M
€252M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€41M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€378M
€493M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€596M
€959M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,964M
€2,880M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€21,912
€37,811
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€613M
€1,332M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
145,320
106,480
Self-employed persons
45,420
14,150
Employment in manufacturing (C)
30,050
22,080
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
76.5%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
6.6%
17.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
1.9%
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
142,400
153,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
20,457
21,971
Enterprise births
2,199
2,037
Enterprise deaths
3,109
548
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.3%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
10.2%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.6%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
44.5%
24.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
48.4%
23.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
5.4%
9.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
32.4%
18.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
11.7%
4.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.9%
91.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,786,125
722,057
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
525 /1k
446 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,024 kt
3,970 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2
1,704
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
15 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
555
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
106
72
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
180,474
192,385
Population aged 65+
65,146
74,188
Population aged under 15
40,713
40,539
Median age of population
46.9 yrs
47.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.1%
38.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.6 /1k
-12.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.5 /1k
-3.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
13.1 /1k
16.8 /1k
Live births
2,303
2,331
Deaths
3,759
5,197
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.7%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.65
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
45 /km²
56 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
148,467
251,353
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.8%
25.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
76.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
13.6%
19.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
792 /100k
645 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,069 /100k
1,709 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
194 /100k
306 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
5.6 /100k
6.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
10.8 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
224 /100k
351 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
40 /M
73 /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)
2,623 m
86 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
31 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
225 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
15 days/yr
2 days/yr