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 · RO411
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Пловдив (Opportunity 36). Runner-up: Dolj (33). Contrarian pick: Dolj — leads the set on Digital readiness (EU pctl 48).
#1Пловдив
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Industrial base (81)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Dolj
Strengths
Cost advantage (97) · Energy cost (52)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Пловдив
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Dolj may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Пловдив 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
36.3
32.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
30.0
39.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
19.3
21.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
23.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.3
42.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
10.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
60.8
40.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
6.9% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.2% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€13,120
€14,308
Population density
107 /km²
80 /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
€7,718M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€165M
€346M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,912M
€1,919M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,909M
€1,054M
GVA — construction (F)
€391M
€592M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,127M
€1,958M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€7,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,300 PPS
23,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€13,100
€14,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,738M
€4,369M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€682M
€531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€5,794M
€8,535M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€583M
€558M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€299M
€281M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,096M
€1,146M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,584M
€1,757M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,026M
€5,163M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€23,683
€35,631
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,155M
€1,585M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
339,180
266,080
Self-employed persons
79,430
82,460
Employment in manufacturing (C)
87,160
34,170
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
69.9%
60.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.6%
32.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.2%
6.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
288,300
230,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
40,259
26,947
Enterprise births
4,279
3,636
Enterprise deaths
5,894
1,712
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.2%
1.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
29.3%
16.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.6%
20.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
3.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.0%
15.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.5%
7.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.3%
95.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,414,851
303,361
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
457 /1k
428 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
12,614 kt
4,768 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2
466
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
78
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
18
22
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
397,793
379,998
Population aged 65+
144,138
125,310
Population aged under 15
93,699
89,921
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
44.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.2%
33.0%
Crude rate of total population change
3.2 /1k
-5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.5 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.1 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude death rate
14.4 /1k
14.5 /1k
Live births
5,804
4,302
Deaths
9,144
8,659
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
56.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.74
1.34
Population density (persons per km²)
108 /km²
82 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
536,754
372,684
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.4%
36.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.1 yrs
76.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.6%
27.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
924 /100k
718 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,023 /100k
1,743 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
189 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.6 /100k
9.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
35.0 /100k
88.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
207 /100k
172 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
111 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.44
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.07
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.55
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.155/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.051/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
169 m
164 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
44 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr