NUTS-3 RO212 · Romania
Population
388,2912025
GDP
€3,442M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
69.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
4,989.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO212 · RO124
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Harghita (Opportunity 33). Runner-up: Botoşani (24). Contrarian pick: Botoşani — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 98).
#1Harghita
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%)
#2Botoşani
Strengths
Cost advantage (98) · Digital readiness (60)
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%)
Why you might not pick Harghita
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) — Botoşani may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Botoşani · Manufacturing → Harghita · Office → Harghita · Residential → Harghita.
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
23.7
33.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
58.0
35.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
15.4
24.2
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
31.0
17.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
16.8
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
54.4
72.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.0% 5y
2.1% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
13.7% 5y
10.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€8,864
€13,428
Population density
78 /km²
44 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€3,119M
€3,551M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€230M
€154M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€520M
€811M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€468M
€729M
GVA — construction (F)
€250M
€309M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€680M
€946M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€7,200
€9,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
14,700 PPS
22,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€8,800
€13,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,628M
€10,071M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€620M
€1,159M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€12,735M
€14,134M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€484M
€331M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€35M
€47M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€657M
€554M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€782M
€778M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,336M
€2,783M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€24,438
€42,598
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€799M
€1,146M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
156,790
102,420
Self-employed persons
67,090
20,140
Employment in manufacturing (C)
15,860
23,970
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
65.9%
66.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
24.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.7%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
167,800
123,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,013
16,140
Enterprise births
1,188
1,412
Enterprise deaths
627
935
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
0.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.4%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.2%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
13.4%
19.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
19.0%
20.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
10.0%
7.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
13.0%
18.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.8%
8.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
96.0%
97.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
79,820
431,198
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
344 /1k
433 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
42
97
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,883 kt
3,444 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
11
33
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
1 km/1000km²
6 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
35
100
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
254,724
186,670
Population aged 65+
72,038
57,686
Population aged under 15
61,529
47,515
Median age of population
42.4 yrs
43.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
28.3%
30.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-3.7 /1k
-0.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.3 /1k
2.5 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.6 /1k
9.0 /1k
Crude death rate
13.6 /1k
12.4 /1k
Live births
2,945
2,618
Deaths
5,288
3,625
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
52.4%
56.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.39
1.64
Population density (persons per km²)
79 /km²
44 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
215,804
196,085
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
30.3%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.5 yrs
77.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
23.4%
19.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
668 /100k
749 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,885 /100k
1,780 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
246 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.0 /100k
2.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
6.4 /100k
5.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
75.4 /100k
87.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
169 /100k
117 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
87 /M
72 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
0.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
0.39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
0.44
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
0.07
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
0.55
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
€0.155/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
€0.051/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
145 m
788 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
19 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
89 days/yr
133 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
2 days/yr