NUTS-3 BG313 · Bulgaria
Population
146,0022025
GDP
€2,168M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,616.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG313 · EL521
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Враца (Opportunity 31). Runner-up: Ημαθία (26). Contrarian pick: Ημαθία — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 89).
#1Враца
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Growth momentum (78)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Resilience (EU bottom 15%)
#2Ημαθία
Strengths
Demographic outlook (89) · Cost advantage (83)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Враца
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Resilience (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Ημαθία may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Враца · Manufacturing → Враца · Office → Ημαθία · Residential → Ημαθία.
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
31.1
25.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
10.3
33.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.4
33.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
13.3
22.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
15.5
37.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
77.8
54.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.6% 5y
4.0% 5y
Population
1.3% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.5% 5y
8.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€14,848
€16,117
Population density
40 /km²
76 /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)
€1,891M
€1,823M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€91M
€506M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,044M
€313M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€354M
€213M
GVA — construction (F)
€32M
€39M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€195M
€381M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,100
€12,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
23,900 PPS
18,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,800
€15,000
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€866M
€5,199M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€154M
€548M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€2,572M
€11,333M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€146M
€156M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€9M
€16M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€193M
€252M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€335M
€332M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,441M
€1,900M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,754
€39,810
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€365M
€409M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
59,100
57,110
Self-employed persons
14,090
26,340
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,720
4,880
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.9%
70.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.1%
23.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.3%
11.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
65,500
58,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,634
8,921
Enterprise births
586
654
Enterprise deaths
763
370
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.6%
4.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.8%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.7%
36.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
30.5%
44.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.3%
5.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.5%
7.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.3%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
134,374
155,100
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
474 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
4,819 kt
1,954 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
1 km/1000km²
24 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
83
67
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)
88,665
79,528
Population aged 65+
36,997
33,244
Population aged under 15
20,340
16,891
Median age of population
49.1 yrs
48.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
41.7%
41.8%
Crude rate of total population change
-11.0 /1k
4.0 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.4 /1k
11.2 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.4 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude death rate
19.0 /1k
13.5 /1k
Live births
1,233
812
Deaths
2,793
1,746
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.7%
63.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.90
1.35
Population density (persons per km²)
41 /km²
77 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
65,386
126,499
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.5%
33.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
73.9 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.3%
24.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
964 /100k
451 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,350 /100k
1,185 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
248 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
0.8 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
12.2 /100k
0.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
39.3 /100k
59.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
425 /100k
118 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
148 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
198 m
295 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
43 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
65 days/yr
27 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
12 days/yr