NUTS-3 RO122 · Romania
Population
560,2772025
GDP
€11,970M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,369.1 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO122 · PL432
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zielonogórski (Opportunity 51). Runner-up: Braşov (49). Contrarian pick: Braşov — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 95).
Strengths
Cost advantage (93) · Freight intensity (79)
Red flags
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Braşov
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Growth momentum (81)
Red flags
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Zielonogórski
Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 14) — Braşov may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Zielonogórski · Manufacturing → Zielonogórski · Office → Braşov · Residential → Zielonogórski.
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
48.9
50.6
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
43.3
19.8
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
25.0
34.1
Clean AirPM2.5 / PM10 / NO₂ inverted
—
34.7
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
42.7
23.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
25.3
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
81.4
70.4
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
2.8% 5y
4.2% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
1.2% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.4% 5y
10.0% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€21,365
€16,963
Population density
104 /km²
74 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 89 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€10,847M
€8,969M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€253M
€269M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,497M
€3,170M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,014M
€2,166M
GVA — construction (F)
€884M
€567M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€3,472M
€2,181M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,200
€10,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
35,500 PPS
24,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€21,400
€16,300
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,071M
€3,343M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,159M
€759M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,134M
€6,207M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,144M
—
GVA — information & communication (J)
€833M
—
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€2,142M
€1,157M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,600M
€1,624M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,499M
€8,715M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€53,110
€47,519
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€3,500M
€2,486M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
250,900
267,500
Self-employed persons
37,490
43,600
Employment in manufacturing (C)
67,000
58,300
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
66.3%
72.3%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.2%
—
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
1.3%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
230,000
274,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
36,872
40,035
Enterprise births
4,932
4,652
Enterprise deaths
2,600
5,530
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.1%
5.5%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.5%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
2.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.3%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
19.7%
31.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
20.6%
34.4%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.8%
4.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.2%
21.3%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.9%
7.3%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.4%
95.9%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,619,522
731,125
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
685 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
5,396 kt
25,755 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
929
93
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
6 km/1000km²
10 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
166
16
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
30
110
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)
348,566
374,986
Population aged 65+
117,794
127,007
Population aged under 15
93,917
83,180
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
44.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
33.8%
33.9%
Crude rate of total population change
5.6 /1k
-4.1 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
8.2 /1k
0.8 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.5 /1k
6.2 /1k
Crude death rate
11.1 /1k
11.1 /1k
Live births
4,763
3,660
Deaths
6,219
6,534
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
60.7%
56.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.54
1.10
Population density (persons per km²)
105 /km²
75 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
461,749
398,716
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
13.3%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
78.0 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.1%
11.3%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
749 /100k
487 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,780 /100k
1,598 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
268 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
20.3 /100k
12.9 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
151 /100k
232 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
239 /100k
306 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
72 /M
68 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
0.52
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
0.69
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
0.35
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
0.67
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
0.54
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
€0.113/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
€0.064/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
464 m
78 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
11 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
104 days/yr
66 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
2 days/yr