NUTS-3 BG341 · Bulgaria
Population
388,9192025
GDP
€4,615M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
7,748.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG341 · HU213
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Veszprém (Opportunity 43). Runner-up: Бургас (30). Contrarian pick: Бургас — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 100).
#1Veszprém
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Labour market (82)
Red flags
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
#2Бургас
Strengths
Cost advantage (100) · Growth momentum (70)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Veszprém
Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 2) — Бургас may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Veszprém 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
30.4
42.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.3
33.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
20.6
40.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.0
40.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.3
15.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
69.8
60.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.4% 5y
2.8% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
0.4% 5y
3.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€11,866
€16,413
Population density
50 /km²
75 /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)
€4,026M
€4,701M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€106M
€201M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€733M
€1,273M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€715M
€1,163M
GVA — construction (F)
€232M
€310M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,330M
€897M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,200
€11,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
19,300 PPS
23,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€11,900
€16,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,872M
€5,688M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€382M
€2,817M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,209M
€7,959M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€526M
€650M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€76M
€78M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€760M
€1,066M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€865M
€955M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,005M
€4,209M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€29,065
€42,380
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€859M
€1,526M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
197,400
136,460
Self-employed persons
64,500
16,020
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,420
33,070
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.5%
79.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
16.3%
13.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.6%
3.2%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
181,300
167,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,984
31,542
Enterprise births
3,487
2,752
Enterprise deaths
5,187
712
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.1%
6.2%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.3%
1.1%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.4%
5.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
30.9%
23.1%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
33.5%
23.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.3%
9.2%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.4%
17.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.4%
5.5%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.6%
95.2%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
9,905,089
2,723,728
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
450 /1k
473 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
88
2,331
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
9,740 kt
5,618 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
11 km/1000km²
25 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
23
699
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
28
121
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
242,905
212,339
Population aged 65+
89,301
75,843
Population aged under 15
56,713
45,163
Median age of population
46.9 yrs
46.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
36.8%
35.7%
Crude rate of total population change
11.6 /1k
-7.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
17.0 /1k
-1.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.9 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
13.3 /1k
13.7 /1k
Live births
3,037
2,433
Deaths
5,152
4,587
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.1%
57.0%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.69
1.37
Population density (persons per km²)
51 /km²
80 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
326,441
280,668
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
35.8%
10.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.7 yrs
77.1 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
27.0%
7.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
797 /100k
617 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,099 /100k
1,712 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
215 /100k
323 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
3.1 /100k
0.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
14.1 /100k
7.1 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
26.8 /100k
—
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
466 /100k
432 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
79 /M
62 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.171/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
11 m
369 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
39 days/yr
7 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
38 days/yr
73 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
6 days/yr