NUTS-3 EE004 · Estonia
Population
148,2552025
GDP
€2,778M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
81.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
11,195 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
EE004 · EL422
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Lääne-Eesti (Opportunity 33). Runner-up: Άνδρος, Θήρα, Κέα - Κύθνος, Μήλος, Μύκονος, Νάξος, Πάρος, Σύρος, Τήνος (26). Contrarian pick: Άνδρος, Θήρα, Κέα - Κύθνος, Μήλος, Μύκονος, Νάξος, Πάρος, Σύρος, Τήνος — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Cost advantage (75) · Energy cost (73)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Demographic outlook (92) · Cost advantage (73)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Lääne-Eesti
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 9) — Άνδρος, Θήρα, Κέα - Κύθνος, Μήλος, Μύκονος, Νάξος, Πάρος, Σύρος, Τήνος may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Lääne-Eesti · Manufacturing → Lääne-Eesti · Office → Lääne-Eesti · Residential → Άνδρος, Θήρα, Κέα - Κύθνος, Μήλος, Μύκονος, Νάξος, Πάρος, Σύρος, Τήνος.
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
33.0
26.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
38.8
4.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.0
32.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
41.7
17.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
69.8
3.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.8
49.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
6.6% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.3% 5y
15.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€18,739
€29,018
Population density
13 /km²
45 /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)
€2,434M
€2,936M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€130M
€49M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€535M
€162M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€427M
€61M
GVA — construction (F)
€231M
€167M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€458M
€1,554M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,400
€16,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
20,300 PPS
33,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€18,700
€26,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,522M
€1,625M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€822M
€39M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€20,179M
€2,789M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€365M
€461M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€19M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€563M
€663M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€517M
€341M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,030M
€3,013M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€47,845
€54,144
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€703M
€865M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
60,950
67,850
Self-employed persons
8,310
26,410
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,060
2,340
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.7%
67.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
20.7%
23.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.5%
7.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
78,900
48,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
15,387
23,406
Enterprise births
1,998
2,237
Enterprise deaths
3,846
554
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
0.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.3%
—
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.1%
22.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.3%
26.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.8%
2.7%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.5%
12.5%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.2%
4.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,380,385
12,755,330
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
635 /1k
399 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,497
—
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,503 kt
3,916 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
5 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2,359
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
99
74
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)
90,905
71,394
Population aged 65+
34,930
26,368
Population aged under 15
22,420
18,187
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
46.7 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.4%
36.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.7 /1k
-12.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
-11.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
10.1 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
981
1,180
Deaths
1,965
1,316
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.1%
62.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.26
1.95
Population density (persons per km²)
13 /km²
46 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,578
118,467
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.8%
27.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.4 yrs
82.3 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.5%
18.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
263 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,322 /100k
972 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
238 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
6.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
72.4 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
387 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
132 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.36
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.54
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.52
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.60
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.87
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.119/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
14 m
311 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
15 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
119 days/yr
0 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
2 days/yr