NUTS-3 BG424 · Bulgaria
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
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
BG424 · BG415
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Кюстендил (Opportunity 32). Runner-up: Смолян (22). Contrarian pick: Смолян — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 99).
Strengths
Cost advantage (87) · Labour market (70)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (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 Кюстендил
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (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?
Кюстендил 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
21.9
32.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
27.8
38.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
31.6
49.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
29.5
30.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
29.8
65.0
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
45.8
62.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.1% 5y
2.3% 5y
Population
1.7% 5y
1.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
1.2% 5y
12.5% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,614
€8,413
Population density
28 /km²
35 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€759M
€779M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€48M
€49M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€184M
€160M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€171M
€131M
GVA — construction (F)
€52M
€36M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€141M
€161M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€6,700
€11,300
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,400 PPS
13,500 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,500
€8,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,738M
€9,359M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€682M
€686M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€5,794M
€21,611M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€101M
€130M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€3M
€3M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€131M
€169M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€203M
€204M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€733M
€664M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€23,399
€23,842
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€225M
€207M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
51,330
46,550
Self-employed persons
14,390
14,520
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,010
10,940
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
69.9%
76.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
14.6%
6.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.3%
1.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
39,200
49,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,121
6,060
Enterprise births
461
612
Enterprise deaths
666
806
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
5.4%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
1.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.2%
10.2%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.5%
1.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
29.3%
44.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.6%
48.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.8%
5.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.0%
32.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.5%
11.7%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
92.3%
95.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
826,373
241,171
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
457 /1k
525 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,524 kt
735 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
15 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
54
59
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
54,031
62,828
Population aged 65+
27,182
30,497
Population aged under 15
9,321
12,806
Median age of population
53.5 yrs
51.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.3%
48.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-17.2 /1k
-14.4 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-5.0 /1k
0.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
5.2 /1k
6.9 /1k
Crude death rate
17.5 /1k
21.3 /1k
Live births
479
735
Deaths
1,599
2,277
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.6%
68.9%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.52
1.78
Population density (persons per km²)
29 /km²
35 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
28,999
46,050
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
34.4%
19.8%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.1 yrs
77.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
25.6%
13.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
924 /100k
792 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
2,023 /100k
2,069 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
240 /100k
194 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.2 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
3.3 /100k
6.5 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
4.3 /100k
35.3 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
77.1 /100k
267 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
80 /M
40 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.07
-0.07
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.25
0.25
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.10
-0.10
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
-0.14
-0.14
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.33
0.33
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.135/kWh
€0.135/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.041/kWh
€0.041/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,682 m
1,224 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
155 days/yr
153 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
4 days/yr