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2 regions side-by-side

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

BG424 · BG425

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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

NUTS-3 BG425 · Bulgaria

Кърджали

Population

149,4782025

GDP

€1,218M2024

Unemployment· NUTS-2 source

3.2%2025

Employment· NUTS-2 source

73%2025

Active firms· FR-only

—

Cadastral parcels· FR-only

—

Area

3,216.9 km²

Decision brief

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

Best overall fit: Кърджали (Opportunity 25). Runner-up: Смолян (22).

#1Кърджали

Strengths

Cost advantage (99) · Demographic outlook (85)

Red flags

Economic base (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 Кърджали

Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Economic base (EU pctl 0) — Смолян may suit a mandate that weights that higher.

How robust is this recommendation?

Кърджали 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

25.2

Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers

27.8

53.3

Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment

31.6

22.8

Connectivitytransit + air + market access

29.5

18.0

Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers

29.8

Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory

45.8

70.8

Trajectories · 2012–latest

Real GDP (2020 prices)

3.1% 5y

2.5% 5y

Population

1.7% 5y

Unemployment rate

1.2% 5y

0.6% 5y

Derived comparisons

GDP per capita

€9,614

€8,146

Population density

28 /km²

46 /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)

€759M

€1,062M

GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)

€48M

€123M

GVA — industry (B–E)

€184M

€324M

GVA — manufacturing (C)

€171M

€266M

GVA — construction (F)

€52M

€56M

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

€141M

€146M

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

€6,700

GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)

15,400 PPS

13,300 PPS

GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)

€9,500

€8,200

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

€2,738M

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

€682M

Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2

€5,794M

GVA — real estate activities (L)

€101M

€127M

GVA — information & communication (J)

€3M

€6M

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

€131M

€162M

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

€203M

€251M

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

€733M

€1,026M

Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)

€23,399

€25,016

Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)

€225M

€315M

Labour market

Employment, total persons

51,330

64,500

Self-employed persons

14,390

26,890

Employment in manufacturing (C)

14,010

12,990

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

69.9%

Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2

14.6%

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

3.3%

3.2%

Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)

39,200

65,700

Business demography

Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)

5,121

5,257

Enterprise births

461

558

Enterprise deaths

666

670

3-year enterprise survival rate

4.8%

5.7%

Innovation & R&D

R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2

0.4%

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

3.2%

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

0.5%

Education

Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2

29.3%

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

36.6%

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

6.8%

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

21.0%

Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2

7.5%

Digital

Households with internet access ·N2

92.3%

Tourism

Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)

826,373

122,348

Mobility

Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2

457 /1k

Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)

1,524 kt

1,138 kt

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

9 km/1000km²

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

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

Demography

Population aged 15–64 (working age)

54,031

90,707

Population aged 65+

27,182

40,483

Population aged under 15

9,321

18,288

Median age of population

53.5 yrs

51.2 yrs

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

50.3%

44.6%

Crude rate of total population change

-17.2 /1k

19.7 /1k

Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment

-5.0 /1k

28.6 /1k

Crude birth rate

5.2 /1k

6.3 /1k

Crude death rate

17.5 /1k

15.2 /1k

Live births

479

927

Deaths

1,599

2,250

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

67.6%

64.8%

Total fertility rate (births per woman)

1.52

1.50

Population density (persons per km²)

29 /km²

47 /km²

Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)

28,999

222,015

Social

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

34.4%

Life expectancy at birth ·N2

76.1 yrs

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

25.6%

Health

Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2

924 /100k

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

2,023 /100k

Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2

240 /100k

Safety & crime

Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants

2.2 /100k

0.7 /100k

Robberies per 100k inhabitants

3.3 /100k

1.4 /100k

Burglaries per 100k inhabitants

4.3 /100k

4.8 /100k

Thefts per 100k inhabitants

77.1 /100k

91.4 /100k

Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2

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)

1,682 m

241 m

Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)

0 days/yr

44 days/yr

Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)

155 days/yr

44 days/yr

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

8 days/yr

7 days/yr