NUTS-3 SK042 · Slovakia
Population
778,7992025
GDP
€15,508M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
9.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
72.5%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
6,742.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
SK042 · SK031
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Žilinský kraj (Opportunity 52). Runner-up: Košický kraj (46). Contrarian pick: Košický kraj — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 87).
Why you might not pick Žilinský kraj
Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 18) — Košický kraj may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Žilinský kraj · Manufacturing → Žilinský kraj · Office → Košický kraj · Residential → Žilinský kraj.
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
45.8
52.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.3
40.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
20.7
27.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
22.7
28.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
20.0
20.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
27.5
26.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
65.4
71.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.2% 5y
2.7% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.8% 5y
0.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,912
€21,449
Population density
116 /km²
101 /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)
€14,031M
€13,315M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€246M
€118M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,997M
€3,134M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,895M
€2,607M
GVA — construction (F)
€1,384M
€1,828M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,850M
€2,773M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,300
€12,500
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,800 PPS
26,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€19,800
€21,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,308M
€4,819M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€826M
€953M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€10,472M
€10,959M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,675M
€1,233M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€1,195M
€609M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€3,233M
€3,060M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€2,321M
€2,402M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€12,680M
€11,899M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€55,778
€47,633
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,584M
€2,899M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
292,390
324,900
Self-employed persons
40,070
56,570
Employment in manufacturing (C)
51,010
78,120
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
73.3%
77.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
26.3%
16.1%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
9.5%
5.4%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
375,700
358,400
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
68,160
90,210
Enterprise births
8,770
9,533
Enterprise deaths
9,935
11,266
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.0%
5.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.6%
0.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.7%
4.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
26.7%
25.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
34.0%
31.1%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.3%
11.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.5%
17.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.9%
6.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.9%
92.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
867,090
3,113,975
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
419 /1k
467 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
19,341 kt
13,424 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
11
17
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
10 km/1000km²
17 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
3
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
72
98
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)
508,542
453,847
Population aged 65+
136,052
124,209
Population aged under 15
134,205
108,007
Median age of population
41.1 yrs
42.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
26.8%
27.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.4 /1k
-1.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.9 /1k
-0.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
10.1 /1k
8.2 /1k
Crude death rate
9.6 /1k
9.5 /1k
Live births
7,851
5,650
Deaths
7,446
6,547
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.1%
51.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.67
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
116 /km²
102 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
710,953
525,205
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
26.3%
16.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
78.2 yrs
78.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
20.4%
12.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
616 /100k
593 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,695 /100k
1,714 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
265 /100k
274 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.5 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.5 /100k
3.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
95.4 /100k
44.2 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
225 /100k
115 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
34 /M
43 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.80
0.80
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.73
0.73
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.59
0.59
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.38
0.38
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.53
0.53
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.160/kWh
€0.160/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.063/kWh
€0.063/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
194 m
580 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
18 days/yr
2 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
96 days/yr
113 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
5 days/yr