NUTS-3 RO123 · Romania
Population
199,6062025
GDP
€2,572M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,717.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO123 · PL618
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Covasna (Opportunity 34). Runner-up: Świecki (26). Contrarian pick: Świecki — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 95).
#1Covasna
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Digital readiness (80)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Świecki
Strengths
Industrial base (95) · Cost advantage (91)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Covasna
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 2) — Świecki may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Covasna 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
34.0
26.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.8
15.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
29.3
35.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
45.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.0
19.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
33.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
75.6
38.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
1.0% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
1.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.1% 5y
6.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€12,886
€14,244
Population density
54 /km²
52 /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)
€2,331M
€2,213M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€164M
€210M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€522M
€869M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€469M
€819M
GVA — construction (F)
€180M
€159M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€592M
€393M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,200
€10,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,400 PPS
20,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€12,900
€13,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,071M
€5,384M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,159M
€1,236M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,134M
€12,111M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€232M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€43M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€382M
€222M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€491M
€360M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,826M
€2,133M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€36,852
€40,475
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€752M
€490M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,690
74,300
Self-employed persons
16,980
19,400
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,950
18,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
66.3%
75.2%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.2%
15.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
84,600
83,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,086
8,855
Enterprise births
892
952
Enterprise deaths
543
1,196
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.3%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.8%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
3.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
19.7%
31.9%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
20.6%
32.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.8%
10.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.2%
21.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.9%
7.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.4%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
576,849
230,631
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
613 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,412 kt
5,635 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
58
38
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
6 km/1000km²
9 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
29
22
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
100
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
128,203
110,334
Population aged 65+
38,701
34,987
Population aged under 15
32,702
26,604
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
43.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.2%
31.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.3 /1k
-6.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.9 /1k
-2.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.8 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
10.7 /1k
Live births
1,664
1,176
Deaths
2,503
1,847
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.7%
55.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.20
Population density (persons per km²)
54 /km²
53 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
133,213
125,090
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
21.4%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
78.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.1%
19.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
749 /100k
959 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,780 /100k
1,562 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
294 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
3.5 /100k
5.2 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
68.1 /100k
101 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
92.7 /100k
142 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
72 /M
65 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
595 m
127 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
113 days/yr
88 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr