NUTS-3 EL525 · Greece
Population
115,1012025
GDP
€1,851M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
11.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
69.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
1,523.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
EL525 · EL515
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Πιερία (Opportunity 25). Runner-up: Θάσος, Καβάλα (22). Contrarian pick: Θάσος, Καβάλα — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 88).
#1Πιερία
Strengths
Demographic outlook (97) · Cost advantage (83)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (88) · Freight intensity (75)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Πιερία
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 5) — Θάσος, Καβάλα may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Θάσος, Καβάλα · Manufacturing → Θάσος, Καβάλα · Office → Πιερία · Residential → Πιερία.
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
24.7
21.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
18.5
17.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
31.6
23.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
20.3
48.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
37.3
21.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
53.2
48.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.4% 5y
5.1% 5y
Population
1.3% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.7% 5y
9.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€16,084
€17,809
Population density
76 /km²
58 /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)
€1,615M
€1,941M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€157M
€89M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€195M
€379M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€152M
€264M
GVA — construction (F)
€44M
€64M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€566M
€642M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€12,400
€11,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
17,600 PPS
21,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,300
€17,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€5,199M
€1,728M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€548M
€170M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€11,333M
€3,128M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€216M
€260M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€13M
€26M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€294M
€405M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€360M
€362M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,683M
€2,061M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€38,815
€41,424
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€363M
€555M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
51,880
58,180
Self-employed persons
23,790
21,160
Employment in manufacturing (C)
3,410
5,310
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.7%
67.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.3%
23.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.7%
10.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
51,500
53,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,011
11,836
Enterprise births
785
852
Enterprise deaths
466
482
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.3%
4.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
1.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.4%
28.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.3%
42.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
5.5%
4.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
16.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
6.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,220,999
2,799,896
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
474 /1k
412 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,177 kt
5,119 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
24 km/1000km²
17 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
2
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
57
17
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)
70,487
76,189
Population aged 65+
29,550
32,960
Population aged under 15
15,064
15,768
Median age of population
49.1 yrs
49.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.9%
43.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-9.6 /1k
-8.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.6 /1k
-0.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.3 /1k
6.5 /1k
Crude death rate
13.4 /1k
15.1 /1k
Live births
734
817
Deaths
1,545
1,889
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.3%
64.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.36
Population density (persons per km²)
76 /km²
60 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
122,619
105,356
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.0%
31.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
24.2%
26.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
451 /100k
435 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,185 /100k
1,154 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
4.3 /100k
2.4 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
57.6 /100k
20.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
127 /100k
146 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /M
73 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.56
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.42
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.49
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.32
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.24
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.143/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
127 m
230 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
51 days/yr
24 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
21 days/yr
20 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
11 days/yr
12 days/yr