NUTS-3 RO126 · Romania
Population
394,9632025
GDP
€7,807M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,423.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO126 · PL638
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Sibiu (Opportunity 42). Runner-up: Starogardzki (40). Contrarian pick: Starogardzki — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 92).
#1Sibiu
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Industrial base (80)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Industrial base (92) · Cost advantage (90)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Sibiu
Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 2) — Starogardzki may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Sibiu 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
42.0
40.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
34.8
25.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
27.1
47.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
50.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
45.3
27.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
72.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
74.8
58.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
1.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.0% 5y
6.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,766
€14,777
Population density
73 /km²
96 /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)
€7,074M
€5,297M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€150M
€272M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,944M
€1,935M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,837M
€1,772M
GVA — construction (F)
€539M
€430M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,695M
€1,003M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,200
€11,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
32,800 PPS
21,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€19,800
€14,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,071M
€8,238M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,159M
€1,560M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,134M
€17,730M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€690M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€405M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,511M
€695M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,235M
€961M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,543M
€5,037M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€47,437
€45,773
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,283M
€1,257M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
183,200
157,800
Self-employed persons
24,130
33,800
Employment in manufacturing (C)
59,340
43,600
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
66.3%
76.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.2%
7.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.2%
2.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
166,200
198,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
24,460
22,712
Enterprise births
3,125
2,595
Enterprise deaths
1,762
3,082
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.8%
5.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
2.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
6.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
19.7%
43.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
20.6%
48.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.8%
9.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.2%
32.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.9%
11.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.4%
95.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
951,937
310,070
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
600 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,733 kt
16,230 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
603
46
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
6 km/1000km²
4 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
153
12
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
17
59
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
251,903
258,067
Population aged 65+
77,886
76,889
Population aged under 15
65,174
61,730
Median age of population
42.4 yrs
42.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.9%
29.8%
Crude rate of total population change
3.5 /1k
-5.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
6.1 /1k
-1.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.8 /1k
Crude death rate
10.8 /1k
10.6 /1k
Live births
3,254
2,696
Deaths
4,277
4,227
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.8%
53.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.44
1.16
Population density (persons per km²)
73 /km²
99 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
319,797
299,457
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
16.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
78.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.1%
13.5%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
749 /100k
470 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,780 /100k
1,427 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
290 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.8 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.6 /100k
9.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
184 /100k
196 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
200 /100k
195 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
72 /M
50 /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)
617 m
10 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
104 days/yr
80 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
3 days/yr