NUTS-3 BG334 · Bulgaria
Population
94,7352025
GDP
€990M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.9%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
79.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,708 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG334 · EL514
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Търговище (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Δράμα (25). Contrarian pick: Δράμα — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 92).
Strengths
Cost advantage (99) · Growth momentum (74)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Δράμα
Strengths
Demographic outlook (92) · Cost advantage (88)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Търговище
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 0) — Δράμα may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Търговище · Manufacturing → Търговище · Office → Δράμα · Residential → Δράμα.
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
29.1
24.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
26.8
29.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.8
26.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
12.5
28.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
40.5
21.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
73.6
59.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.0% 5y
5.1% 5y
Population
1.0% 5y
0.0% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.5% 5y
9.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€10,454
€14,098
Population density
35 /km²
26 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 84 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€864M
€1,096M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€86M
€63M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€152M
€341M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€119M
€162M
GVA — construction (F)
€61M
€37M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€258M
€195M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€11,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
16,800 PPS
16,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€10,400
€13,200
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,591M
€1,728M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€277M
€170M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,059M
€3,128M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€91M
€117M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2M
€15M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€121M
€187M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€186M
€273M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€725M
€1,163M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€25,510
€45,709
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€201M
€313M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
49,490
29,750
Self-employed persons
20,200
9,980
Employment in manufacturing (C)
8,650
3,340
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
75.6%
67.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.7%
23.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.0%
10.5%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
45,500
38,100
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
3,759
6,367
Enterprise births
382
426
Enterprise deaths
451
291
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.0%
1.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
39.0%
28.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.4%
42.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
9.0%
4.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.0%
16.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.0%
6.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.7%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
36,530
91,156
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
472 /1k
412 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,026 kt
1,899 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
8 km/1000km²
17 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
114
56
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
57,545
54,413
Population aged 65+
24,484
23,238
Population aged under 15
12,706
11,416
Median age of population
49.7 yrs
48.3 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.5%
42.7%
Crude rate of total population change
-9.2 /1k
19.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.1 /1k
28.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude death rate
18.2 /1k
15.1 /1k
Live births
754
517
Deaths
1,729
1,332
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.6%
63.7%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.87
1.22
Population density (persons per km²)
35 /km²
26 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
65,824
101,668
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.7%
31.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.4 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
21.3%
26.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
605 /100k
435 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,126 /100k
1,154 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
229 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
2.1 /100k
0.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
43.9 /100k
6.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
250 /100k
64.1 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
83 /M
73 /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)
452 m
1,186 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
15 days/yr
1 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
106 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
11 days/yr