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 · RO116
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: Sălaj (Opportunity 25). Runner-up: Călăraşi (25). Contrarian pick: Călăraşi — leads the set on Cost advantage (EU pctl 98).
#1Sălaj
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%)
#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 Sălaj
Demographic outlook (EU bottom 15%); Labour market (EU bottom 15%); Talent & skills (EU bottom 15%); Governance (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Governance (EU pctl 2) — Călăraşi may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
Sălaj 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
25.3
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
45.8
56.3
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
18.0
24.1
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
23.7
26.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
16.0
13.8
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
44.8
49.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
0.1% 5y
3.8% 5y
Population
0.1% 5y
0.1% 5y
Unemployment rate
7.9% 5y
8.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€9,109
€13,915
Population density
55 /km²
55 /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
€2,662M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€263M
€112M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€519M
€657M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€466M
€616M
GVA — construction (F)
€194M
€225M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€456M
€663M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€7,400
€9,100
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,100 PPS
23,100 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,100
€13,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€7,781M
€8,805M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€1,628M
€1,026M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€12,452M
€16,038M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€150M
€294M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€13M
€39M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€340M
€445M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€529M
€561M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,570M
€2,198M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€25,800
€33,721
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€605M
€680M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
109,490
96,990
Self-employed persons
40,000
27,320
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,630
18,180
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
68.4%
68.4%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
39.3%
28.3%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
8.5%
5.8%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
121,700
90,800
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
9,189
12,203
Enterprise births
949
1,256
Enterprise deaths
600
923
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
8.9%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.4%
0.3%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
1.5%
3.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.2%
0.2%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
14.0%
18.6%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
16.7%
22.8%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
11.4%
7.5%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
11.8%
15.4%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
4.6%
7.1%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
94.7%
94.5%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
33,310
75,068
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
403 /1k
436 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,287 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.
84
230
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
9 km/1000km²
3 km/1000km²
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
30
109
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
85
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)
178,140
133,106
Population aged 65+
57,134
43,140
Population aged under 15
43,328
34,894
Median age of population
44.6 yrs
44.2 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.1%
32.4%
Crude rate of total population change
-2.7 /1k
2.3 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
5.6 /1k
6.3 /1k
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
9.3 /1k
Crude death rate
15.2 /1k
13.4 /1k
Live births
1,931
1,970
Deaths
4,246
2,822
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
56.4%
58.6%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.33
1.80
Population density (persons per km²)
57 /km²
55 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
153,648
151,685
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
27.5%
27.5%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
76.3 yrs
76.6 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
19.3%
15.6%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
542 /100k
753 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
1,895 /100k
1,857 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
207 /100k
255 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.4 /100k
0.0 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.2 /100k
6.7 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
116 /100k
93.5 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
203 /100k
149 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
76 /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)
40 m
326 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
44 days/yr
12 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
61 days/yr
87 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
3 days/yr