NUTS-3 HU321 · Hungary
Population
520,1292025
GDP
€8,347M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
6.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
78.2%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
6,218.3 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
HU321 · RO125
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Hajdú-Bihar (Opportunity 44). Runner-up: Mureş (41). Contrarian pick: Mureş — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Cost advantage (94) · Growth momentum (76)
Red flags
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%)
#2Mureş
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Digital readiness (80)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Hajdú-Bihar
Digital readiness (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%); Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 2) — Mureş may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Hajdú-Bihar 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
43.8
41.1
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
41.5
37.5
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
26.3
27.0
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
51.0
23.0
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
23.8
24.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
76.0
73.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
3.2% 5y
1.6% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.5% 5y
Unemployment rate
2.9% 5y
10.4% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€16,049
€14,478
Population density
84 /km²
77 /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)
€7,173M
€6,816M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€521M
€346M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,398M
€1,487M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,240M
€1,319M
GVA — construction (F)
€556M
€545M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,393M
€1,903M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,300
€9,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
22,700 PPS
24,000 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€16,000
€14,500
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,214M
€10,071M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€3,008M
€1,159M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€7,834M
€14,134M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€896M
€501M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€210M
€187M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,579M
€981M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,726M
€1,554M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€6,299M
€5,341M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€41,553
€44,537
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,937M
€2,200M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
212,330
188,020
Self-employed persons
22,420
29,020
Employment in manufacturing (C)
37,160
41,750
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
77.0%
66.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
15.3%
24.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.1%
4.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
261,900
218,600
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
41,836
28,695
Enterprise births
3,982
3,161
Enterprise deaths
1,073
1,777
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.6%
6.1%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.8%
0.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
4.3%
2.8%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.6%
0.4%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
23.4%
19.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
26.0%
20.6%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.0%
7.8%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
17.5%
18.2%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
6.1%
8.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
91.2%
97.4%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,568,566
964,058
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
395 /1k
433 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
7,633 kt
6,361 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,277
145
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
15 km/1000km²
6 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
246
28
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
74
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)
339,013
331,382
Population aged 65+
102,657
104,262
Population aged under 15
78,459
83,930
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
43.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.3%
31.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.8 /1k
-0.5 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
2.8 /1k
3.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
9.3 /1k
8.6 /1k
Crude death rate
12.9 /1k
12.9 /1k
Live births
4,840
4,452
Deaths
6,730
6,721
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
53.4%
56.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.55
Population density (persons per km²)
85 /km²
78 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
489,965
372,288
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
28.4%
24.1%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
75.5 yrs
77.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
22.1%
19.1%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
603 /100k
749 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,761 /100k
1,780 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
335 /100k
236 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.6 /100k
0.4 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
4.8 /100k
9.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
—
172 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
361 /100k
372 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
60 /M
72 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.66
0.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.29
0.39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.24
0.44
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.04
0.07
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.67
0.55
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.171/kWh
€0.155/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.048/kWh
€0.051/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
104 m
323 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
28 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
67 days/yr
100 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
4 days/yr