NUTS-3 HU223 · Hungary
Population
257,3712025
GDP
€3,782M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,787 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HU223 · LT025
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zala (Opportunity 34). Runner-up: Panevėžio apskritis (32). Contrarian pick: Panevėžio apskritis — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 73).
#1Zala
Strengths
Cost advantage (92) · Labour market (78)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (80) · Industrial base (73)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zala
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 2) — Panevėžio apskritis may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zala · Manufacturing → Panevėžio apskritis · Office → Panevėžio apskritis · Residential → Zala.
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
34.3
31.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.5
35.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.0
32.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
29.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
44.3
36.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
15.3
66.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
60.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.0% 5y
0.8% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
1.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.5% 5y
5.3% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€14,697
€18,580
Population density
68 /km²
26 /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)
€3,250M
€3,445M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€174M
€248M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€681M
€932M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€599M
€798M
GVA — construction (F)
€237M
€301M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€684M
€869M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€10,600
€14,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
20,600 PPS
23,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,600
€18,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,295M
€10,284M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,556M
€1,567M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€7,392M
€21,259M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€385M
€287M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€55M
€57M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€657M
€423M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€818M
€671M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,964M
€2,896M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€39,733
€45,019
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€852M
€1,009M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
100,620
91,790
Self-employed persons
12,510
11,540
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,590
18,770
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
78.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.6%
15.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
7.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
126,900
106,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
23,612
18,843
Enterprise births
2,050
3,503
Enterprise deaths
560
3,268
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.3%
2.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
26.0%
42.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
21.0%
52.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.3%
9.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
26.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.3%
9.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.4%
87.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,783,756
164,767
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
502 /1k
611 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,598 kt
4,361 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,429
1,955
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
7 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
944
944
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
112
122
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
161,372
131,301
Population aged 65+
64,549
50,890
Population aged under 15
31,450
24,826
Median age of population
48.7 yrs
49.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.0%
38.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-10.6 /1k
-10.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.0 /1k
0.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.2 /1k
5.7 /1k
Crude death rate
14.9 /1k
15.7 /1k
Live births
1,615
1,185
Deaths
3,849
3,266
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.5%
57.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.29
1.08
Population density (persons per km²)
70 /km²
27 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
208,774
65,813
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.0%
30.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.5 yrs
77.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
8.9%
26.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
670 /100k
511 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,594 /100k
1,630 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
312 /100k
259 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
9.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
23.0 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
489 /100k
245 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
49 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.66
0.94
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.29
1.19
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.24
1.23
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.04
0.86
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.67
0.96
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.171/kWh
€0.136/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.050/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
198 m
78 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
17 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
108 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
2 days/yr