NUTS-3 EL434 · Greece
Population
156,6762025
GDP
€3,001M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
75.4%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,393.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
EL434 · HR062
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Varaždinska županija (Opportunity 37). Runner-up: Χανιά (29). Contrarian pick: Χανιά — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 84).
Strengths
Industrial base (94) · Cost advantage (91)
Red flags
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Χανιά
Strengths
Demographic outlook (84) · Cost advantage (81)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Varaždinska županija
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 2) — Χανιά may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Varaždinska županija · Manufacturing → Varaždinska županija · Office → Χανιά · Residential → Χανιά.
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
28.5
37.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
19.8
29.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
32.0
36.0
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
18.3
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
28.3
31.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
17.8
14.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
66.0
71.8
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
6.0% 5y
4.0% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.4% 5y
Unemployment rate
21.7% 5y
9.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,154
€18,797
Population density
65 /km²
126 /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)
€2,619M
€2,476M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€266M
€126M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€235M
€923M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€148M
€853M
GVA — construction (F)
€74M
€171M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€989M
€488M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€12,800
€10,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
23,400 PPS
26,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€19,000
€18,800
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€2,427M
€3,296M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€104M
€1,033M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€4,111M
€6,092M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€306M
€101M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€31M
€99M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€513M
€302M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€542M
€465M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,679M
€2,362M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€42,037
€42,120
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€742M
€755M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
78,290
75,620
Self-employed persons
24,110
8,980
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,040
24,640
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.0%
72.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
12.9%
12.6%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.1%
3.0%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
72,200
76,200
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
16,098
7,858
Enterprise births
1,250
914
Enterprise deaths
402
366
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.6%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.7%
1.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
4.4%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.7%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.5%
22.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
36.5%
32.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
3.1%
4.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
17.7%
17.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.4%
6.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
—
87.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
9,693,128
239,270
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
500 /1k
500 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,776 kt
3,762 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
28
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
1 km/1000km²
31 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1
18
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
24
59
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
100,093
103,552
Population aged 65+
33,055
34,555
Population aged under 15
23,528
20,753
Median age of population
45.3 yrs
45.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.0%
33.4%
Crude rate of total population change
1.5 /1k
-0.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.8 /1k
5.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
7.4 /1k
Crude death rate
10.7 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
1,296
1,181
Deaths
1,668
2,131
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.5%
53.4%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.35
Population density (persons per km²)
66 /km²
—
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
162,212
—
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
18.2%
17.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
82.4 yrs
78.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
12.7%
16.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
410 /100k
465 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
966 /100k
1,622 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
213 /100k
305 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
1.3 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
5.1 /100k
8.8 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
35.2 /100k
155 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
215 /100k
194 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
71 /M
42 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.56
0.72
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.42
0.30
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.49
0.43
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.32
0.11
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.24
0.73
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.143/kWh
€0.126/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
187 m
170 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
26 days/yr
17 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
17 days/yr
8 days/yr