NUTS-3 RO311 · Romania
Population
561,9902025
GDP
€8,899M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
68.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
6,817.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO311 · RO411
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Argeş (Opportunity 35). Runner-up: Dolj (33). Contrarian pick: Dolj — leads the set on Digital readiness (EU pctl 48).
#1Argeş
Strengths
Cost advantage (98) · Industrial base (79)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Dolj
Strengths
Cost advantage (97) · Energy cost (52)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Argeş
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 2) — Dolj may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Dolj · Manufacturing → Argeş · Office → Dolj · Residential → Argeş.
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
35.2
32.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
38.0
39.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
18.5
21.2
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
23.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
20.0
42.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
16.0
10.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
40.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.1% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.8% 5y
6.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€15,834
€14,308
Population density
82 /km²
80 /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)
€8,064M
€7,718M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€268M
€346M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,372M
€1,919M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,077M
€1,054M
GVA — construction (F)
€707M
€592M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€2,075M
€1,958M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€7,400
€7,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
26,200 PPS
23,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€15,800
€14,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,781M
€4,369M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,628M
€531M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€12,452M
€8,535M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€607M
€558M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€141M
€281M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,290M
€1,146M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,351M
€1,757M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,505M
€5,163M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€39,248
€35,631
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,121M
€1,585M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
252,390
266,080
Self-employed persons
32,810
82,460
Employment in manufacturing (C)
79,630
34,170
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
68.4%
60.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
39.3%
32.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.6%
6.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
248,900
230,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,603
26,947
Enterprise births
3,396
3,636
Enterprise deaths
1,866
1,712
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.7%
5.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
1.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.2%
0.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
14.0%
16.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
16.7%
20.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.4%
3.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
11.8%
15.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.6%
7.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.7%
95.3%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
401,494
303,361
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
403 /1k
428 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
8,996 kt
4,768 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
75
466
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
13
78
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
95
22
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)
364,358
379,998
Population aged 65+
119,715
125,310
Population aged under 15
77,917
89,921
Median age of population
46.4 yrs
44.8 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.9%
33.0%
Crude rate of total population change
-5.0 /1k
-5.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.0 /1k
2.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.6 /1k
7.2 /1k
Crude death rate
12.7 /1k
14.5 /1k
Live births
3,733
4,302
Deaths
7,144
8,659
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
54.2%
56.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.34
Population density (persons per km²)
83 /km²
82 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
303,794
372,684
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.5%
36.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.3 yrs
76.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.3%
27.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
542 /100k
718 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,895 /100k
1,743 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
207 /100k
189 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.7 /100k
9.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
108 /100k
88.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
295 /100k
172 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
76 /M
111 /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)
410 m
164 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
44 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
92 days/yr
62 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
5 days/yr