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2 regions side-by-side

Name: TerraSight EU regional indicators
Creator: TerraSight
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

BG322 · BG424

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NUTS-3 BG322 · Bulgaria

Габрово

Population

93,8172025

GDP

€1,194M2024

Unemployment· NUTS-2 source

4%2025

Employment· NUTS-2 source

75%2025

Active firms· FR-only

—

Cadastral parcels· FR-only

—

Area

2,022.5 km²

NUTS-3 BG424 · Bulgaria

Смолян

Population

90,5342025

GDP

€870M2024

Unemployment· NUTS-2 source

3.2%2025

Employment· NUTS-2 source

73%2025

Active firms· FR-only

—

Cadastral parcels· FR-only

—

Area

3,201.3 km²

Decision brief

Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity

Best overall fit: Габрово (Opportunity 23). Runner-up: Смолян (22).

#1Габрово

Strengths

Cost advantage (99) · Industrial base (92)

Red flags

Economic base (EU bottom 15%)

Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)

Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)

Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)

Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)

Governance (EU bottom 15%)

#2Смолян

Strengths

Cost advantage (99) · Industrial base (71)

Red flags

Economic base (EU bottom 15%)

Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)

Governance (EU bottom 15%)

Why you might not pick Габрово

Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (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) — Смолян may suit a mandate that weights that higher.

How robust is this recommendation?

The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Смолян · Manufacturing → Габрово · Office → Смолян · Residential → Смолян.

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

23.2

21.9

Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers

20.8

27.8

Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment

18.0

31.6

Connectivitytransit + air + market access

14.5

29.5

Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers

22.0

29.8

Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory

56.6

45.8

Trajectories · 2012–latest

Real GDP (2020 prices)

4.4% 5y

3.1% 5y

Population

1.2% 5y

1.7% 5y

Unemployment rate

6.8% 5y

1.2% 5y

Derived comparisons

GDP per capita

€12,731

€9,614

Population density

46 /km²

28 /km²

Parcels per 1k pop

FR-only

Firms per 1k pop

FR-only

All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)

Economy

Gross value added, total (current prices)

€1,042M

€759M

GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)

€44M

€48M

GVA — industry (B–E)

€376M

€184M

GVA — manufacturing (C)

€347M

€171M

GVA — construction (F)

€30M

€52M

GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)

€225M

€141M

Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2

€6,500

€6,700

GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)

20,500 PPS

15,400 PPS

GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)

€12,700

€9,500

Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2

€1,276M

€2,738M

Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2

€285M

€682M

Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2

€3,129M

€5,794M

GVA — real estate activities (L)

€107M

€101M

GVA — information & communication (J)

€9M

€3M

GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)

€144M

€131M

GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)

€223M

€203M

Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)

€1,002M

€733M

Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)

€31,848

€23,399

Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)

€278M

€225M

Labour market

Employment, total persons

53,470

51,330

Self-employed persons

9,700

14,390

Employment in manufacturing (C)

21,110

14,010

Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2

72.1%

69.9%

Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2

20.3%

14.6%

Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)

4.0%

3.3%

Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)

40,400

39,200

Business demography

Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)

5,883

5,121

Enterprise births

597

461

Enterprise deaths

787

666

3-year enterprise survival rate

4.6%

4.8%

Innovation & R&D

R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2

0.3%

0.4%

Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2

2.7%

3.2%

R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2

0.5%

Education

Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2

31.2%

29.3%

Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2

41.6%

36.6%

Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2

4.9%

6.8%

Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2

20.4%

21.0%

Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2

4.2%

7.5%

Digital

Households with internet access ·N2

91.0%

92.3%

Tourism

Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)

196,480

826,373

Mobility

Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2

492 /1k

457 /1k

Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)

570 kt

1,524 kt

Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2

0 km/1000km²

9 km/1000km²

Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.

103

Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.

Demography

Population aged 15–64 (working age)

54,282

54,031

Population aged 65+

28,640

27,182

Population aged under 15

10,895

9,321

Median age of population

52.5 yrs

53.5 yrs

Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)

52.8%

50.3%

Crude rate of total population change

-11.1 /1k

-17.2 /1k

Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment

3.4 /1k

-5.0 /1k

Crude birth rate

6.3 /1k

5.2 /1k

Crude death rate

20.9 /1k

17.5 /1k

Live births

599

479

Deaths

1,967

1,599

Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)

72.8%

67.6%

Total fertility rate (births per woman)

1.69

1.52

Population density (persons per km²)

47 /km²

29 /km²

Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)

41,860

28,999

Social

At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2

33.8%

34.4%

Life expectancy at birth ·N2

74.9 yrs

76.1 yrs

At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2

23.5%

25.6%

Health

Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2

798 /100k

924 /100k

Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2

2,261 /100k

2,023 /100k

Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2

223 /100k

240 /100k

Safety & crime

Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants

2.1 /100k

2.2 /100k

Robberies per 100k inhabitants

7.4 /100k

3.3 /100k

Burglaries per 100k inhabitants

45.3 /100k

4.3 /100k

Thefts per 100k inhabitants

383 /100k

77.1 /100k

Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2

76 /M

80 /M

Governance & institutions

Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

-0.07

Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

0.25

Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

-0.10

Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)

-0.14

Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)

0.33

Energy

Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)

€0.135/kWh

Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)

€0.041/kWh

Climate

Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)

685 m

1,682 m

Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)

9 days/yr

0 days/yr

Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)

91 days/yr

155 days/yr

Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)

8 days/yr