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 · HR033
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zadarska županija (Opportunity 35). Runner-up: Lääne-Eesti (33). Contrarian pick: Lääne-Eesti — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 73).
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Growth momentum (88)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (75) · Energy cost (73)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zadarska županija
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 0) — Lääne-Eesti 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 → Zadarska županija.
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
34.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
38.8
45.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.0
31.5
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
64.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
41.7
35.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
69.8
36.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.8
87.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
5.9% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.3% 5y
5.2% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€18,739
€18,065
Population density
13 /km²
46 /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)
€2,434M
€2,483M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€130M
€104M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€535M
€233M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€427M
€160M
GVA — construction (F)
€231M
€320M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€458M
€579M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,400
€11,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
20,300 PPS
25,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€18,700
€18,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,522M
€7,641M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€822M
€658M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€20,179M
€13,216M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€365M
€372M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€36M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€563M
€699M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€517M
€547M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,030M
€2,379M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€47,845
€44,940
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€703M
€917M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
60,950
71,070
Self-employed persons
8,310
12,270
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,060
5,950
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.7%
72.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
20.7%
18.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.5%
5.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
78,900
75,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
15,387
10,754
Enterprise births
1,998
1,630
Enterprise deaths
3,846
567
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.3%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.1%
31.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.3%
43.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.8%
6.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.5%
23.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.2%
6.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
87.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,380,385
10,609,983
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
635 /1k
549 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,503 kt
1,825 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3,497
33
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
5 km/1000km²
27 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2,359
20
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
99
26
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
90,905
101,869
Population aged 65+
34,930
40,499
Population aged under 15
22,420
23,398
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.4%
39.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.7 /1k
15.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
19.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
9.2 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
981
1,512
Deaths
1,965
2,121
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.1%
62.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.26
1.62
Population density (persons per km²)
13 /km²
46 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,578
131,512
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.8%
20.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.4 yrs
79.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.5%
19.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
531 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,322 /100k
1,391 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
238 /100k
295 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
10.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
203 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
483 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
75 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.36
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.54
0.30
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.52
0.43
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.60
0.11
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.87
0.73
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.119/kWh
€0.126/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.053/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
14 m
257 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
34 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
119 days/yr
41 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
24 days/yr