NUTS-3 RO125 · Romania
Population
519,5742025
GDP
€7,522M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
4.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
70%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
6,704.5 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO125 · RO421
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Mureş (Opportunity 41). Runner-up: Arad (33). Contrarian pick: Arad — leads the set on Industrial base (EU pctl 76).
#1Mureş
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%)
#2Arad
Strengths
Cost advantage (94) · Industrial base (76)
Red flags
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
Labour market (EU bottom 15%)
Governance (EU bottom 15%)
Flood: 21% of population in the 100-year floodplain
Why you might not pick Mureş
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) — Arad may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
The leader depends on the mandate: Logistics → Arad · Manufacturing → Arad · Office → Mureş · Residential → Mureş.
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
- Flood defences, return-period design and insurance for flagged regions
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
41.1
33.4
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
37.5
49.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
27.0
26.4
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
23.0
24.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
24.3
33.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
73.4
49.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
1.6% 5y
3.3% 5y
Population
0.5% 5y
0.3% 5y
Unemployment rate
10.4% 5y
2.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€14,478
€16,634
Population density
77 /km²
53 /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)
€6,816M
€6,185M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€346M
€302M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,487M
€1,828M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,319M
€1,514M
GVA — construction (F)
€545M
€488M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,903M
€1,494M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€9,200
€9,900
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
24,000 PPS
27,600 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,500
€16,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€10,071M
€5,950M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,159M
€880M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€14,134M
€11,679M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€501M
€477M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€187M
€98M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€981M
€982M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,554M
€1,090M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€5,341M
€5,307M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€44,537
€44,089
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,200M
€1,466M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
188,020
172,330
Self-employed persons
29,020
15,320
Employment in manufacturing (C)
41,750
62,170
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
66.3%
64.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
24.2%
31.2%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
4.1%
5.1%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
218,600
169,700
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
28,695
24,186
Enterprise births
3,161
2,580
Enterprise deaths
1,777
1,599
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.1%
5.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
1.2%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
2.8%
6.5%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.4%
0.6%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
19.7%
19.4%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
20.6%
17.3%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
7.8%
10.3%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
18.2%
18.9%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
8.9%
9.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.4%
96.0%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
964,058
333,970
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
433 /1k
476 /1k
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
145
136
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
6,361 kt
11,766 kt
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
28
33
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
6 km/1000km²
8 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
74
69
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
2
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
331,382
264,632
Population aged 65+
104,262
83,348
Population aged under 15
83,930
62,340
Median age of population
43.4 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
31.5%
31.5%
Crude rate of total population change
-0.5 /1k
-1.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
3.9 /1k
4.9 /1k
Crude birth rate
8.6 /1k
7.3 /1k
Crude death rate
12.9 /1k
13.6 /1k
Live births
4,452
3,010
Deaths
6,721
5,589
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.8%
55.1%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.55
1.37
Population density (persons per km²)
78 /km²
53 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
372,288
286,007
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
24.1%
20.2%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
77.0 yrs
76.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.1%
11.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
749 /100k
805 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,780 /100k
1,939 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
236 /100k
249 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
9.0 /100k
9.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
172 /100k
151 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
372 /100k
313 /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
0.20
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)
323 m
192 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
12 days/yr
19 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
100 days/yr
60 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
4 days/yr
4 days/yr