NUTS-3 HR035 · Croatia
Population
430,5262025
GDP
€7,803M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
4,505.9 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HR035 · BG331
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Варна (Opportunity 41). Runner-up: Splitsko-dalmatinska županija (40). Contrarian pick: Splitsko-dalmatinska županija — leads the set on Energy cost (EU pctl 71).
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Growth momentum (83)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Варна
Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Splitsko-dalmatinska županija may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Варна leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
40.0
41.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
22.0
32.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
23.3
25.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
18.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
29.7
35.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.5
40.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
82.8
86.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
8.1% 5y
4.8% 5y
Population
0.0% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.8% 5y
8.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€18,125
€15,123
Population density
96 /km²
115 /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)
€6,471M
€5,773M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€71M
€98M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€481M
€871M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€321M
€684M
GVA — construction (F)
€558M
€399M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,262M
€1,959M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,000
€6,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,400 PPS
24,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€18,100
€15,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,641M
€1,591M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€658M
€277M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,216M
€4,059M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€783M
€519M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€282M
€218M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,612M
€1,276M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,486M
€1,169M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,199M
€4,845M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€45,106
€38,792
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,389M
€1,345M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
184,530
224,150
Self-employed persons
27,950
53,410
Employment in manufacturing (C)
17,760
24,710
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
75.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
14.7%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.5%
3.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
201,100
220,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
27,987
31,950
Enterprise births
3,652
3,721
Enterprise deaths
1,506
5,900
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
5.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.7%
0.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
3.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.1%
39.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.1%
42.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.5%
9.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.9%
23.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.5%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.1%
92.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
18,434,419
4,752,786
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
549 /1k
472 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,557 kt
18,600 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
49
3
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
27 km/1000km²
8 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
11
1
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
38
16
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
271,200
279,200
Population aged 65+
97,995
94,625
Population aged under 15
61,331
63,696
Median age of population
44.5 yrs
45.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.1%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
7.6 /1k
7.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
10.2 /1k
12.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.9 /1k
8.3 /1k
Crude death rate
11.5 /1k
13.5 /1k
Live births
3,820
3,632
Deaths
4,921
5,897
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.7%
56.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.48
1.55
Population density (persons per km²)
95 /km²
115 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
374,220
375,315
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.6%
27.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
75.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.0%
21.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
531 /100k
605 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,391 /100k
2,126 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
295 /100k
229 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
1.1 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.1 /100k
22.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
124 /100k
38.7 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
320 /100k
646 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
75 /M
83 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
-0.07
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.30
0.25
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.43
-0.10
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.11
-0.14
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.73
0.33
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.126/kWh
€0.135/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.041/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
391 m
186 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
25 days/yr
28 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
41 days/yr
55 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
22 days/yr
4 days/yr