NUTS-3 RO123 · Romania
Population
199,6062025
GDP
€2,572M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
3,717.4 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO123 · RO116
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Covasna (Opportunity 34). Runner-up: Sălaj (25). Contrarian pick: Sălaj — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 96).
#1Covasna
Strengths
Cost advantage (95) · Digital readiness (80)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
#2Sălaj
Strengths
Cost advantage (96) · Industrial base (73)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick Covasna
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Freight intensity (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 2) — Sălaj may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Sălaj · Manufacturing → Sălaj · Office → Covasna · Residential → Covasna.
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
34.0
25.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
42.8
56.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
29.3
24.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
35.0
26.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
13.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
75.6
49.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.8% 5y
3.8% 5y
Population
0.2% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.1% 5y
8.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€12,886
€13,915
Population density
54 /km²
55 /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)
€2,331M
€2,662M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€164M
€112M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€522M
€657M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€469M
€616M
GVA — construction (F)
€180M
€225M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€592M
€663M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,200
€9,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,400 PPS
23,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€12,900
€13,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,071M
€8,805M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,159M
€1,026M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,134M
€16,038M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€232M
€294M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€43M
€39M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€382M
€445M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€491M
€561M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,826M
€2,198M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€36,852
€33,721
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€752M
€680M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
77,690
96,990
Self-employed persons
16,980
27,320
Employment in manufacturing (C)
19,950
18,180
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
66.3%
68.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.2%
28.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
5.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
84,600
90,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,086
12,203
Enterprise births
892
1,256
Enterprise deaths
543
923
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.3%
8.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
19.7%
18.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
20.6%
22.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.8%
7.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.2%
15.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.9%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.4%
94.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
576,849
75,068
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
436 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,412 kt
4,051 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
58
230
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
6 km/1000km²
3 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
29
109
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
65
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
128,203
133,106
Population aged 65+
38,701
43,140
Population aged under 15
32,702
34,894
Median age of population
43.0 yrs
44.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
30.2%
32.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.3 /1k
2.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.9 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.3 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.5 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
1,664
1,970
Deaths
2,503
2,822
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
55.7%
58.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.53
1.80
Population density (persons per km²)
54 /km²
55 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
133,213
151,685
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
27.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
76.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.1%
15.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
749 /100k
753 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,780 /100k
1,857 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
255 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.0 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
3.5 /100k
6.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
68.1 /100k
93.5 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
92.7 /100k
149 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
72 /M
65 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
0.20
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
0.39
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
0.44
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
0.07
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
0.55
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
€0.155/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
€0.051/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
595 m
326 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
5 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
113 days/yr
87 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
3 days/yr