NUTS-3 HR034 · Croatia
Population
95,8982025
GDP
€1,647M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
5.5%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
73.8%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
2,965.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HR034 · EL432
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Λασίθι (Opportunity 28). Runner-up: Šibensko-kninska županija (27). Contrarian pick: Šibensko-kninska županija — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 90).
#1Λασίθι
Strengths
Cost advantage (81) · Growth momentum (65)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Connectivity (EU bottom 15%)
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Strengths
Cost advantage (90) · Growth momentum (74)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Λασίθι
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Connectivity (EU bottom 15%); Industrial base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Industrial base (EU pctl 3) — Šibensko-kninska županija may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Šibensko-kninska županija · Manufacturing → Šibensko-kninska županija · Office → Šibensko-kninska županija · Residential → Λασίθι.
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
26.5
28.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
25.0
25.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
23.9
42.3
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
57.5
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
34.7
12.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
36.5
17.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
74.2
65.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
5.0% 5y
3.6% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
5.8% 5y
21.6% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€17,170
€19,849
Population density
32 /km²
42 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€1,365M
€1,336M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€15M
€265M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€188M
€154M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€140M
€45M
GVA — construction (F)
€106M
€17M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€342M
€459M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€11,000
€12,800
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,000 PPS
26,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€17,200
€21,100
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,641M
€2,427M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€658M
€104M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€13,216M
€4,111M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€238M
€169M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€26M
€18M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€371M
€260M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€344M
€181M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,308M
€1,367M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,911
€53,600
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€504M
€378M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
39,100
31,330
Self-employed persons
6,820
12,020
Employment in manufacturing (C)
4,610
1,190
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
72.4%
72.0%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
18.0%
12.9%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
5.5%
5.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
41,800
33,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,731
6,790
Enterprise births
736
429
Enterprise deaths
366
130
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.6%
3.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.7%
1.7%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
1.7%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
31.1%
28.5%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
43.1%
36.5%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
6.5%
3.1%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
23.9%
17.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.5%
6.4%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
87.1%
—
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
5,170,037
4,100,561
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
549 /1k
500 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
1,643 kt
1,437 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
261
—
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
27 km/1000km²
1 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
272
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
85
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
56,431
46,608
Population aged 65+
27,411
20,362
Population aged under 15
12,056
10,161
Median age of population
49.5 yrs
48.1 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
48.6%
43.7%
Crude rate of total population change
3.2 /1k
-1.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
10.2 /1k
4.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.0 /1k
6.7 /1k
Crude death rate
15.0 /1k
12.3 /1k
Live births
767
519
Deaths
1,437
947
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
69.9%
65.5%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.58
1.34
Population density (persons per km²)
33 /km²
43 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
59,063
62,211
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
20.6%
18.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
79.9 yrs
82.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.0%
12.7%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
531 /100k
410 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,391 /100k
966 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
295 /100k
213 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.1 /100k
2.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.6 /100k
1.3 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
116 /100k
15.5 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
255 /100k
104 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
75 /M
71 /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)
232 m
102 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
26 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
0 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
14 days/yr
4 days/yr