NUTS-3 BG331 · Bulgaria
Population
437,5212025
GDP
€6,616M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,820.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG331 · PL621
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Варна (Opportunity 41). Runner-up: Elbląski (37). Contrarian pick: Elbląski — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 88).
#2Elbląski
Strengths
Cost advantage (92) · Industrial base (88)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Варна
Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Elbląski may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Варна leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
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
41.3
36.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
32.0
27.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.1
30.7
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
28.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.0
19.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
21.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
86.2
55.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.8% 5y
3.1% 5y
Population
0.3% 5y
1.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.3% 5y
1.9% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€15,123
€13,822
Population density
115 /km²
64 /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)
€5,773M
€5,903M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€98M
€405M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€871M
€1,951M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€684M
€1,761M
GVA — construction (F)
€399M
€405M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,959M
€1,222M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€10,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,600 PPS
19,900 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€15,200
€13,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,591M
€3,635M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€277M
€684M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,059M
€7,205M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€519M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€218M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,276M
€761M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,169M
€1,160M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€4,845M
€5,701M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€38,792
€38,886
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,345M
€1,500M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
224,150
206,300
Self-employed persons
53,410
38,300
Employment in manufacturing (C)
24,710
53,500
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.6%
71.9%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
17.5%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.9%
3.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
220,900
220,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
31,950
26,699
Enterprise births
3,721
2,906
Enterprise deaths
5,900
3,647
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.6%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
1.0%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
2.0%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
0.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.0%
31.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.4%
33.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
5.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.0%
20.0%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
6.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.7%
93.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
4,752,786
689,258
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
597 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
18,600 kt
18,375 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
3
423
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
8 km/1000km²
0 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
90
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
16
110
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
279,200
304,142
Population aged 65+
94,625
100,187
Population aged under 15
63,696
68,343
Median age of population
45.3 yrs
44.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.9%
32.9%
Crude rate of total population change
7.6 /1k
-7.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
12.8 /1k
-2.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude death rate
13.5 /1k
11.3 /1k
Live births
3,632
3,012
Deaths
5,897
5,377
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.7%
55.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.14
Population density (persons per km²)
115 /km²
67 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
375,315
307,481
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.7%
19.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.4 yrs
77.9 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
18.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
605 /100k
584 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,126 /100k
1,595 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
255 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
22.1 /100k
8.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
38.7 /100k
226 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
646 /100k
216 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
83 /M
63 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
186 m
107 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
55 days/yr
87 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr