NUTS-3 BG314 · Bulgaria
Population
215,3262025
GDP
€2,126M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
7.3%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
71.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
4,631.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG314 · EL611
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Плевен (Opportunity 30). Runner-up: Καρδίτσα, Τρίκαλα (24). Contrarian pick: Καρδίτσα, Τρίκαλα — leads the set on Freight intensity (EU pctl 76).
#1Плевен
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Growth momentum (78)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (86) · Freight intensity (76)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Air quality (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Плевен
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Καρδίτσα, Τρίκαλα may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Καρδίτσα, Τρίκαλα · Manufacturing → Плевен · Office → Καρδίτσα, Τρίκαλα · Residential → Плевен.
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
29.7
23.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
24.3
29.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
16.3
28.8
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
1.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
18.3
4.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
15.5
21.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
77.6
44.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.0% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
1.4% 5y
0.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
11.0% 5y
18.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,874
€13,633
Population density
46 /km²
37 /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)
€1,855M
€2,645M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€99M
€217M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€442M
€458M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€423M
€329M
GVA — construction (F)
€53M
€76M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€347M
€517M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,100
€11,700
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,900 PPS
16,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,800
€13,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€866M
€2,244M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€154M
€354M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€2,572M
€4,089M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€211M
€377M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€16M
€21M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€300M
€598M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€615M
€778M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,413M
€2,775M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€21,146
€31,454
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€358M
€700M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
96,380
105,020
Self-employed persons
24,370
51,670
Employment in manufacturing (C)
18,900
6,530
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.9%
65.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.1%
16.0%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
7.1%
6.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
92,700
91,900
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,388
16,528
Enterprise births
971
1,156
Enterprise deaths
1,340
600
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.5%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.8%
1.1%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
27.7%
31.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
30.5%
37.9%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.3%
5.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.7%
17.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
5.5%
6.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.3%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
137,221
769,520
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
395 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,094 kt
9,345 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
186
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
1 km/1000km²
17 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
86
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
109
156
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
125,568
130,612
Population aged 65+
61,489
65,601
Population aged under 15
28,269
26,101
Median age of population
50.7 yrs
51.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
49.0%
50.2%
Crude rate of total population change
-11.8 /1k
-6.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.8 /1k
3.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
5.5 /1k
Crude death rate
18.9 /1k
15.6 /1k
Live births
1,704
1,229
Deaths
4,094
3,485
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
71.5%
70.2%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.81
1.21
Population density (persons per km²)
47 /km²
37 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
112,246
150,123
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.5%
30.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
73.9 yrs
82.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.3%
25.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
964 /100k
608 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,350 /100k
1,115 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
248 /100k
240 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.9 /100k
0.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.5 /100k
2.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
50.0 /100k
18.8 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
306 /100k
71.5 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
148 /M
53 /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)
178 m
129 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
41 days/yr
87 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
59 days/yr
22 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
11 days/yr