NUTS-3 HR022 · Croatia
Population
67,2212025
GDP
€811M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.4%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
68.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,019.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HR022 · EL413
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Virovitičko-podravska županija (Opportunity 26). Runner-up: Χίος (23). Contrarian pick: Χίος — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 100).
Strengths
Cost advantage (93) · Energy cost (71)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Χίος
Strengths
Demographic outlook (100) · Cost advantage (88)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Virovitičko-podravska županija
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 4) — Χίος may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Virovitičko-podravska županija · Manufacturing → Virovitičko-podravska županija · Office → Χίος · Residential → Χίος.
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
25.7
23.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
34.0
21.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
20.3
38.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
28.3
8.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
12.5
12.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
70.6
51.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.1% 5y
3.4% 5y
Population
1.4% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.9% 5y
17.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€12,061
€15,098
Population density
33 /km²
59 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€672M
€690M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€100M
€29M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€102M
€54M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€85M
€22M
GVA — construction (F)
€50M
€23M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€93M
€148M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€10,300
€11,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
16,900 PPS
16,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€12,100
€13,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€3,386M
€652M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€560M
€19M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€7,231M
€1,148M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€88M
€122M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€13M
€9M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€141M
€208M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€186M
€228M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€638M
€718M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€32,013
€40,070
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€205M
€204M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
27,010
21,330
Self-employed persons
5,820
5,240
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,320
810
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
68.1%
68.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.7%
31.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.4%
6.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
28,500
21,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
2,424
4,344
Enterprise births
282
290
Enterprise deaths
144
69
3-year enterprise survival rate
7.2%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.5%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.4%
—
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.3%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
20.5%
21.3%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
31.9%
19.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.9%
5.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.1%
12.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.2%
7.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
46,778
344,959
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
476 /1k
302 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
20
—
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,283 kt
524 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
18 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
30
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
54
96
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
42,059
32,929
Population aged 65+
15,947
12,838
Population aged under 15
9,215
6,630
Median age of population
47.0 yrs
46.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
37.9%
39.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-12.0 /1k
10.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-3.3 /1k
15.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.8 /1k
7.7 /1k
Crude death rate
16.5 /1k
12.3 /1k
Live births
526
399
Deaths
1,118
639
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.8%
59.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.51
1.55
Population density (persons per km²)
34 /km²
58 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
—
86,299
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.0%
27.9%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.2 yrs
83.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
28.6%
22.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
561 /100k
335 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,784 /100k
861 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
308 /100k
199 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
1.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
94.1 /100k
3.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
194 /100k
34.7 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
92 /M
98 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.30
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.43
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.11
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.73
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.126/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
110 m
463 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
41 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
58 days/yr
5 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
9 days/yr