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 · HU233
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Lääne-Eesti (Opportunity 33). Runner-up: Tolna (29). Contrarian pick: Tolna — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Cost advantage (75) · Energy cost (73)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
#2Tolna
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Growth momentum (50)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (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) — Tolna may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Tolna · Manufacturing → Lääne-Eesti · Office → Lääne-Eesti · Residential → Lääne-Eesti.
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
28.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
38.8
39.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
53.0
26.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
41.7
48.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
69.8
11.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
55.8
50.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.3% 5y
0.0% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.3% 5y
16.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€18,739
€15,468
Population density
13 /km²
55 /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)
€2,434M
€2,719M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€130M
€196M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€535M
€842M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€427M
€458M
GVA — construction (F)
€231M
€225M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€458M
€406M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€15,400
€9,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
20,300 PPS
21,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€18,700
€15,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€9,522M
€4,847M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€822M
€583M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€20,179M
€4,955M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€365M
€232M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€34M
€66M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€563M
€447M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€517M
€603M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,030M
€2,318M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€47,845
€40,627
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€703M
€1,225M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
60,950
82,320
Self-employed persons
8,310
8,580
Employment in manufacturing (C)
12,060
14,890
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
81.7%
76.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
20.7%
19.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.5%
6.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
78,900
98,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
15,387
16,047
Enterprise births
1,998
1,380
Enterprise deaths
3,846
406
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.7%
5.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
2.0%
0.6%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
7.3%
3.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.1%
21.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.3%
22.0%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
23.8%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
25.5%
15.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.2%
4.6%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
95.4%
92.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,380,385
151,348
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
635 /1k
453 /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
1,364
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,503 kt
4,200 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2,359
667
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
5 km/1000km²
24 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
99
58
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
128,180
Population aged 65+
34,930
47,807
Population aged under 15
22,420
28,580
Median age of population
45.7 yrs
46.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
38.4%
37.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-4.7 /1k
-8.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
-1.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
7.7 /1k
Crude death rate
13.2 /1k
15.0 /1k
Live births
981
1,585
Deaths
1,965
3,080
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.1%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.26
1.49
Population density (persons per km²)
13 /km²
57 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
95,578
171,282
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
21.8%
25.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.4 yrs
76.8 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.5%
18.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
677 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,322 /100k
1,709 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
238 /100k
326 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.3 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
2.4 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
401 /100k
423 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
67 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.36
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.54
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.52
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.60
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.87
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.119/kWh
€0.171/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
214 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
1 days/yr
22 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
119 days/yr
63 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr