NUTS-3 HU223 · Hungary
Population
257,3712025
GDP
€3,782M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
82.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,787 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HU223 · HU332
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zala (Opportunity 34). Runner-up: Békés (31). Contrarian pick: Békés — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 94).
#1Zala
Strengths
Cost advantage (92) · Labour market (78)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
#2Békés
Strengths
Cost advantage (94) · Labour market (67)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zala
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 2) — Békés may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zala 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
34.3
30.8
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
36.5
37.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
40.0
29.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
44.3
38.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
15.3
16.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
42.2
53.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.0% 5y
0.5% 5y
Population
0.6% 5y
1.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
3.5% 5y
4.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€14,697
€12,403
Population density
68 /km²
55 /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)
€3,250M
€3,273M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€174M
€434M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€681M
€635M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€599M
€579M
GVA — construction (F)
€237M
€203M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€684M
€549M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€10,600
€9,600
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
20,600 PPS
17,400 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,600
€12,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,295M
€6,421M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,556M
€1,410M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€7,392M
€7,243M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€385M
€252M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€55M
€41M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€657M
€493M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€818M
€959M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,964M
€2,880M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€39,733
€37,811
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€852M
€1,332M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
100,620
106,480
Self-employed persons
12,510
14,150
Employment in manufacturing (C)
20,590
22,080
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
78.8%
78.8%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
11.6%
17.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
4.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
126,900
153,000
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
23,612
21,971
Enterprise births
2,050
2,037
Enterprise deaths
560
548
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
6.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
1.1%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.3%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
26.0%
24.8%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
21.0%
23.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.3%
9.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.8%
18.1%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.3%
4.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.4%
91.7%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,783,756
722,057
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
502 /1k
446 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,429
1,704
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,598 kt
3,970 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
944
555
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
21 km/1000km²
12 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
112
72
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
0
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
161,372
192,385
Population aged 65+
64,549
74,188
Population aged under 15
31,450
40,539
Median age of population
48.7 yrs
47.5 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.0%
38.6%
Crude rate of total population change
-10.6 /1k
-12.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-2.0 /1k
-3.0 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.2 /1k
7.5 /1k
Crude death rate
14.9 /1k
16.8 /1k
Live births
1,615
2,331
Deaths
3,849
5,197
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.5%
59.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.29
1.47
Population density (persons per km²)
70 /km²
56 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
208,774
251,353
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
12.0%
25.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.5 yrs
76.5 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
8.9%
19.2%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
670 /100k
645 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,594 /100k
1,709 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
312 /100k
306 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.6 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
1.9 /100k
6.8 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
489 /100k
351 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
73 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.66
0.66
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.29
0.29
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.24
0.24
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.04
0.04
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.67
0.67
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.171/kWh
€0.171/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.048/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
198 m
86 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
17 days/yr
31 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
2 days/yr