NUTS-3 EL524 · Greece
Population
120,5152025
GDP
€2,327M2023
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
11.7%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
69.1%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,506.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
EL524 · EL525
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Πέλλα (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Πιερία (25). Contrarian pick: Πιερία — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 97).
#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%)
#2Πιερία
Strengths
Demographic outlook (97) · Cost advantage (83)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (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) — Πιερία may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Πέλλα 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
28.9
24.7
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
18.5
18.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
37.6
31.6
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
14.0
20.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
37.3
37.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
63.0
53.2
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
4.2% 5y
4.4% 5y
Population
1.6% 5y
1.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.7% 5y
8.7% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€19,308
€16,084
Population density
48 /km²
76 /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)
€2,030M
€1,615M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€645M
€157M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€305M
€195M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€248M
€152M
GVA — construction (F)
€51M
€44M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€461M
€566M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€12,400
€12,400
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,400 PPS
17,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€17,400
€14,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€5,199M
€5,199M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€548M
€548M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€11,333M
€11,333M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€154M
€216M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€11M
€13M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€229M
€294M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€340M
€360M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,116M
€1,683M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€40,643
€38,815
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€456M
€363M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
62,280
51,880
Self-employed persons
32,890
23,790
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,540
3,410
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
70.7%
70.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
23.3%
23.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.7%
11.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
53,800
51,500
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,373
10,011
Enterprise births
661
785
Enterprise deaths
394
466
3-year enterprise survival rate
3.7%
4.3%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.5%
1.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
3.7%
3.7%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
1.5%
1.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
36.4%
36.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
44.3%
44.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
5.5%
5.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
21.3%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
7.9%
7.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
233,769
4,220,999
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
474 /1k
474 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,684 kt
1,177 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
—
2
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
24 km/1000km²
24 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
—
2
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
86
57
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)
73,720
70,487
Population aged 65+
31,387
29,550
Population aged under 15
15,408
15,064
Median age of population
50.0 yrs
49.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
42.6%
41.9%
Crude rate of total population change
-13.8 /1k
-9.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-5.3 /1k
-2.6 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.7 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude death rate
15.1 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
807
734
Deaths
1,832
1,545
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
63.5%
63.3%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.41
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
49 /km²
76 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
112,127
122,619
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
33.0%
33.0%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
81.7 yrs
81.7 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
24.2%
24.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
451 /100k
451 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,185 /100k
1,185 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
244 /100k
244 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
1.6 /100k
4.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
28.6 /100k
57.6 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
97.4 /100k
127 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
50 /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)
167 m
127 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
56 days/yr
51 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
40 days/yr
21 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
11 days/yr