NUTS-3 HR033 · Croatia
Population
165,7662025
GDP
€2,995M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,633.6 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HR033 · EL511
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zadarska županija (Opportunity 35). Runner-up: Έβρος (21). Contrarian pick: Έβρος — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 94).
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Growth momentum (88)
Red flags
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Έβρος
Strengths
Demographic outlook (94) · Cost advantage (88)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zadarska županija
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%); Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Digital readiness (EU pctl 0) — Έβρος may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zadarska županija 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
34.8
21.2
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.0
25.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
31.5
21.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
64.0
—
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.7
4.5
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.5
21.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
87.6
52.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.9% 5y
3.0% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.2% 5y
9.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€18,065
€15,332
Population density
46 /km²
32 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 87 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,483M
€1,825M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€104M
€68M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€233M
€248M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€160M
€156M
GVA — construction (F)
€320M
€25M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€579M
€347M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,000
€11,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,300 PPS
17,800 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€18,100
€14,400
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,641M
€1,728M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€658M
€170M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,216M
€3,128M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€372M
€228M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€36M
€34M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€699M
€355M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€547M
€782M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,379M
€1,937M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,940
€37,076
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€917M
€522M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
71,070
61,100
Self-employed persons
12,270
18,440
Employment in manufacturing (C)
5,950
3,150
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
67.7%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
23.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.6%
10.6%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,500
60,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
10,754
8,179
Enterprise births
1,630
591
Enterprise deaths
567
400
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.4%
3.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.7%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
1.9%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.1%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.1%
28.0%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.1%
42.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.5%
4.6%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.9%
16.6%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.5%
6.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.1%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
10,609,983
590,011
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
549 /1k
412 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,825 kt
2,308 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
33
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
27 km/1000km²
17 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
20
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
26
131
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
0
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
101,869
86,073
Population aged 65+
40,499
33,947
Population aged under 15
23,398
16,399
Median age of population
45.5 yrs
45.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
39.8%
39.4%
Crude rate of total population change
15.5 /1k
13.9 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
19.2 /1k
22.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.2 /1k
5.9 /1k
Crude death rate
12.9 /1k
14.8 /1k
Live births
1,512
805
Deaths
2,121
2,004
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
62.7%
58.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.62
1.33
Population density (persons per km²)
46 /km²
32 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
131,512
169,105
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.6%
31.6%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
80.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.0%
26.8%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
531 /100k
435 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,391 /100k
1,154 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
295 /100k
245 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
1.5 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
10.4 /100k
3.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
11.9 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
483 /100k
130 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
75 /M
73 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.72
0.56
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.30
0.42
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.43
0.49
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.11
0.32
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.73
0.24
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.126/kWh
€0.143/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.039/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
257 m
378 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
34 days/yr
34 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
41 days/yr
40 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
24 days/yr
11 days/yr