NUTS-3 BG425 · Bulgaria
Population
149,4782025
GDP
€1,218M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.2%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73%2025
Active firms· FR-only
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Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,216.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG425 · BG332
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Добрич (Opportunity 28). Runner-up: Кърджали (25). Contrarian pick: Кърджали — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 85).
#1Добрич
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Growth momentum (72)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Кърджали
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Demographic outlook (85)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Добрич
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Кърджали may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Добрич · Manufacturing → Добрич · Office → Кърджали · Residential → Кърджали.
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
25.2
27.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
53.3
33.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
22.8
23.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
18.0
25.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
70.8
71.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.5% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
1.7% 5y
1.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.6% 5y
8.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€8,146
€9,184
Population density
46 /km²
31 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,062M
€1,163M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€123M
€132M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€324M
€198M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€266M
€155M
GVA — construction (F)
€56M
€53M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€146M
€299M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€6,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
13,300 PPS
14,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€8,200
€9,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,738M
€1,591M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€682M
€277M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€5,794M
€4,059M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€127M
€148M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€6M
€11M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€162M
€202M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€251M
€279M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,026M
€976M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€25,016
€24,762
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€315M
€271M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
64,500
68,390
Self-employed persons
26,890
24,040
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,990
7,810
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
69.9%
75.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.6%
14.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.2%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
65,700
69,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,257
7,465
Enterprise births
558
753
Enterprise deaths
670
1,206
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.7%
4.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.2%
3.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
29.3%
39.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.6%
42.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.0%
23.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.5%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.3%
92.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
122,348
1,749,331
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
457 /1k
472 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,138 kt
2,458 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
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2
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
8 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
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1
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
71
48
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
90,707
87,375
Population aged 65+
40,483
39,403
Population aged under 15
18,288
18,429
Median age of population
51.2 yrs
50.9 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
44.6%
45.1%
Crude rate of total population change
19.7 /1k
-9.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
28.6 /1k
3.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.3 /1k
6.8 /1k
Crude death rate
15.2 /1k
19.9 /1k
Live births
927
993
Deaths
2,250
2,907
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.8%
66.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.50
1.70
Population density (persons per km²)
47 /km²
31 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
222,015
85,857
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.4%
27.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.1 yrs
75.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.6%
21.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
924 /100k
605 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,023 /100k
2,126 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
2.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
10.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
4.8 /100k
58.0 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
91.4 /100k
286 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
83 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
-0.07
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.25
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
-0.10
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
-0.14
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.33
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.135/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.041/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
241 m
240 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
23 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
57 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
7 days/yr
4 days/yr