NUTS-3 LT026 · Lithuania
Population
266,7362025
GDP
€5,144M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.8%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
77.7%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
8,542.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
LT026 · HU312
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Šiaulių apskritis (Opportunity 37). Runner-up: Heves (32). Contrarian pick: Heves — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 96).
Strengths
Cost advantage (80) · Growth momentum (74)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
#2Heves
Strengths
Cost advantage (96) · Industrial base (91)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Šiaulių apskritis
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 1) — Heves may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Šiaulių apskritis 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
37.1
32.0
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
46.3
14.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
32.1
21.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
27.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.0
40.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
66.3
17.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
74.2
49.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.7% 5y
0.8% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.2% 5y
16.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,285
€15,363
Population density
31 /km²
78 /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)
€4,607M
€3,729M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€341M
€119M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€928M
€1,516M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€714M
€1,212M
GVA — construction (F)
€309M
€201M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,514M
€586M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€14,200
€8,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,600 PPS
21,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€19,300
€15,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,284M
€3,870M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,567M
€1,489M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€21,259M
€6,296M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€328M
€323M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€80M
€37M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€732M
€534M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€783M
€773M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€3,873M
€3,213M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,276
€40,750
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,349M
€1,119M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
124,820
112,560
Self-employed persons
12,990
10,010
Employment in manufacturing (C)
22,230
39,650
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.7%
75.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.5%
16.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.8%
7.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
140,300
134,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
23,346
20,291
Enterprise births
4,754
1,863
Enterprise deaths
4,152
592
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.9%
5.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.7%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.9%
4.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
42.7%
21.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
52.3%
20.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.4%
11.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
26.8%
15.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.7%
4.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.8%
93.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
296,252
1,428,444
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
611 /1k
400 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,097
1,387
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,073 kt
4,784 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
7 km/1000km²
19 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
786
491
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
115
73
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
173,117
179,240
Population aged 65+
59,413
62,513
Population aged under 15
34,206
40,737
Median age of population
46.5 yrs
45.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.3%
34.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.3 /1k
-9.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.7 /1k
-2.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.6 /1k
8.4 /1k
Crude death rate
14.6 /1k
14.8 /1k
Live births
1,506
2,395
Deaths
3,898
4,203
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.1%
57.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.09
1.52
Population density (persons per km²)
32 /km²
80 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
127,932
239,753
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.7%
30.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.2 yrs
75.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.2%
23.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
511 /100k
696 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,630 /100k
1,883 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
259 /100k
334 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
6.8 /100k
12.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
24.0 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
165 /100k
1,440 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
49 /M
52 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.94
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.19
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.23
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.86
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.96
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.136/kWh
€0.171/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.050/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
115 m
164 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
19 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
111 days/yr
74 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
4 days/yr