NUTS-3 BG421 · Bulgaria
Population
635,6302025
GDP
€8,339M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,966.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG421 · PL721
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Kielecki (Opportunity 45). Runner-up: Пловдив (36). Contrarian pick: Пловдив — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 99).
#1Kielecki
Strengths
Cost advantage (91) · Freight intensity (87)
Red flags
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
#2Пловдив
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Industrial base (81)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Kielecki
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Air quality (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Air quality (EU pctl 13) — Пловдив may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Kielecki · Manufacturing → Kielecki · Office → Пловдив · Residential → Kielecki.
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
36.3
44.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
30.0
23.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
19.3
29.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
12.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.3
24.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
32.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.8
53.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
6.9% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
1.8% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€13,120
€15,887
Population density
107 /km²
136 /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)
€7,276M
€9,830M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€165M
€253M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,912M
€2,525M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,909M
€1,915M
GVA — construction (F)
€391M
€863M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,127M
€2,672M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€10,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,300 PPS
22,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€13,100
€15,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,738M
€2,787M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€682M
€630M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€5,794M
€6,275M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€583M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€299M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,096M
€1,344M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,584M
€2,173M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,026M
€9,452M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€23,683
€42,992
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,155M
€2,084M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
339,180
320,200
Self-employed persons
79,430
57,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
87,160
66,400
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
69.9%
74.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.6%
16.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.2%
4.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
288,300
319,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
40,259
46,927
Enterprise births
4,279
4,808
Enterprise deaths
5,894
6,080
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.2%
1.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
29.3%
37.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.6%
37.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
3.9%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.0%
23.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.5%
7.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.3%
91.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,414,851
968,367
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
457 /1k
602 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,614 kt
34,692 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2
1,419
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
0
207
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
18
123
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
397,793
428,948
Population aged 65+
144,138
164,253
Population aged under 15
93,699
91,586
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
45.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
38.3%
Crude rate of total population change
3.2 /1k
-8.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.5 /1k
-1.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude death rate
14.4 /1k
12.5 /1k
Live births
5,804
4,041
Deaths
9,144
8,629
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.74
1.07
Population density (persons per km²)
108 /km²
137 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
536,754
437,916
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.4%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.1 yrs
78.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.6%
17.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
924 /100k
878 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,023 /100k
1,524 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
263 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.6 /100k
6.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
35.0 /100k
128 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
207 /100k
137 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
59 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
169 m
407 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
4 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
101 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr