NUTS-3 EL515 · Greece
Population
124,9172025
GDP
€2,225M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
10.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
67.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,138.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
EL515 · EL524
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Πέλλα (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Θάσος, Καβάλα (22). Contrarian pick: Θάσος, Καβάλα — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 88).
#1Πέλλα
Strengths
Demographic outlook (86) · Cost advantage (83)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (88) · Freight intensity (75)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Πέλλα
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 8) — Θάσος, Καβάλα may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Θάσος, Καβάλα · Manufacturing → Θάσος, Καβάλα · Office → Πέλλα · Residential → Πέλλα.
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
28.9
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
17.0
18.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
23.8
37.6
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
48.0
14.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
21.3
37.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
48.8
63.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.1% 5y
4.2% 5y
Population
1.1% 5y
1.6% 5y
Unemployment rate
9.4% 5y
8.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€17,809
€19,308
Population density
58 /km²
48 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 85 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,941M
€2,030M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€89M
€645M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€379M
€305M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€264M
€248M
GVA — construction (F)
€64M
€51M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€642M
€461M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,100
€12,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,100 PPS
21,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€17,100
€17,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€1,728M
€5,199M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€170M
€548M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€3,128M
€11,333M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€260M
€154M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€26M
€11M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€405M
€229M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€362M
€340M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,061M
€2,116M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€41,424
€40,643
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€555M
€456M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
58,180
62,280
Self-employed persons
21,160
32,890
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,310
5,540
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
67.7%
70.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.8%
23.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
10.5%
11.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
53,300
53,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,836
9,373
Enterprise births
852
661
Enterprise deaths
482
394
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.1%
3.7%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.2%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.9%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.1%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
28.0%
36.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
42.5%
44.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
4.6%
5.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
16.6%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.3%
7.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,799,896
233,769
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
412 /1k
474 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,119 kt
2,684 kt
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
17 km/1000km²
24 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
17
86
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)
76,189
73,720
Population aged 65+
32,960
31,387
Population aged under 15
15,768
15,408
Median age of population
49.8 yrs
50.0 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
43.3%
42.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-8.8 /1k
-13.8 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-0.3 /1k
-5.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.5 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
15.1 /1k
15.1 /1k
Live births
817
807
Deaths
1,889
1,832
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
64.0%
63.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.36
1.41
Population density (persons per km²)
60 /km²
49 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
105,356
112,127
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
31.6%
33.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
80.4 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
26.8%
24.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
435 /100k
451 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,154 /100k
1,185 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
245 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
2.4 /100k
1.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
20.6 /100k
28.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
146 /100k
97.4 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
73 /M
50 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.56
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.42
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.49
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.32
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.24
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.143/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.039/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
230 m
167 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
24 days/yr
56 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
20 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
12 days/yr
8 days/yr