NUTS-3 RO312 · Romania
Population
278,6022025
GDP
€2,538M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
8.6%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
68.3%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
5,071.7 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
RO312 · LV009
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Zemgale (Opportunity 29). Runner-up: Călăraşi (25). Contrarian pick: Călăraşi — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 98).
#1Zemgale
Strengths
Freight intensity (86) · Cost advantage (84)
Red flags
Economic base (EU bottom 15%)
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%)
#2Călăraşi
Strengths
Cost advantage (98) · Industrial base (64)
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%)
Why you might not pick Zemgale
Economic base (EU bottom 15%); Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Demographic outlook (EU pctl 1) — Călăraşi may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Zemgale 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
24.7
28.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
31.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
18.0
32.2
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
23.7
50.3
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
16.0
56.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.8
55.6
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
1.3% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.7% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.9% 5y
1.1% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,109
€13,818
Population density
55 /km²
21 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 86 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,300M
€2,696M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€263M
€334M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€519M
€719M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€466M
€502M
GVA — construction (F)
€194M
€161M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€456M
€527M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€7,400
€12,000
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,100 PPS
17,300 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,100
€13,600
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,781M
€9,718M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,628M
€1,006M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€12,452M
€21,296M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€150M
€203M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€13M
€25M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€340M
€326M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€529M
€630M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,570M
€2,501M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€25,800
€37,386
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€605M
€784M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
109,490
91,010
Self-employed persons
40,000
12,680
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,630
14,990
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
68.4%
77.6%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
39.3%
14.8%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.5%
6.9%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
121,700
113,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,189
11,689
Enterprise births
949
1,573
Enterprise deaths
600
792
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
5.0%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.9%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
5.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.2%
0.8%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
14.0%
40.7%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
16.7%
44.7%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.4%
11.4%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
11.8%
24.8%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.6%
8.0%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.7%
94.1%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
33,310
191,739
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
403 /1k
424 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,287 kt
11,057 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
84
2,498
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
30
1,126
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
—
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
85
59
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)
178,140
139,736
Population aged 65+
57,134
47,918
Population aged under 15
43,328
34,277
Median age of population
44.6 yrs
44.4 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.1%
34.3%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.7 /1k
-11.7 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.6 /1k
-4.4 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
6.9 /1k
Crude death rate
15.2 /1k
14.2 /1k
Live births
1,931
1,551
Deaths
4,246
3,173
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.4%
58.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.34
Population density (persons per km²)
57 /km²
21 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
153,648
108,221
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.5%
24.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.3 yrs
76.4 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.3%
22.0%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
542 /100k
—
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,895 /100k
1,728 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
207 /100k
278 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
2.7 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.2 /100k
8.0 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
116 /100k
129 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
514 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
76 /M
60 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
0.73
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
0.96
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
1.01
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
0.82
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
0.78
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
€0.114/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
€0.050/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
40 m
29 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
3 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
108 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
2 days/yr