NUTS-3 BG344 · Bulgaria
Стара Загора
Stara Zagora
Export region data (CSV)Стара Загора generates €6.5bn of GDP across 288.7k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 34/100 sits in the lower tier of EU regions, led by economic growth and economic scale. Its economy has grown +19.8%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 2.4pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for safety (45th EU percentile) and weakest for health (2th).
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
34
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth57.8
Livability27.1
Market access10
Economic scale41
Equal-weighted mean of four EU-percentile pillars (deliberately orthogonal: growth=trend, livability=quality, market=distance-weighted demand proxy, scale=absolute GDP). Experimental — a screening triage, not investment advice.
Resilience Index · downside / risk lens (experimental)
8.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability0
Labour stability21
Diversification0
Demographic stability14
Inverse of GDP-growth & unemployment volatility (since 2008, incl. 2009/2020 shocks), economic diversification (inverse HHI) and population stability — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher withstands downturns better. Experimental.
Connectivity Index · transit · air · market access (experimental)
22
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 2/3 facets
Transit density—
Airport access34
Market access10
Public-transport stop density, proximity to a major airport, and gravity access to surrounding economic mass — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = better-connected. Experimental.
Talent & Human Capital Index · skills base (experimental)
21.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary26
Lifelong learning3
Knowledge workers37
Scientists & engineers19
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
27.1
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy31.5
Jobs36.5
Education17
Health2
Safety45
Connectivity14
Environment44
Equal-weighted percentile across 6 pillars vs all EU NUTS-3; lower-is-better indicators (crime, unemployment, mortality) inverted. Experimental — regional screening only.
Growth momentum · trend analytics
57.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+19.8%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+10.3%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+9.4 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+9.7 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.7%
CAGR
Employment rate
+2.4 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+0.1 pp
5-yr change
Compound annual growth to the latest available year vs all EU NUTS-3; GDP is nominal EUR (“vs country avg” removes most national inflation). Screening signal, not a forecast.
Economic structure · gross value added by sector
Dominant: Industry · 65.5%Concentrated · HHI 4609
Agriculture 1.7%Industry 65.5%Construction 2.7%Trade · transport · ICT 11.3%Finance · real estate · prof. 8%Public · health · education 10.9%
Share of total GVA (latest year). HHI = sum of squared sector shares ×10,000; higher means a more concentrated, single-sector-dependent economy (more cyclicality risk).
All indicators · 69 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€5,647M
2024 · EU pctl 40
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€97M
2024 · EU pctl 37
GVA — industry (B–E)
€3,699M
2024 · EU pctl 80
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,343M
2024 · EU pctl 51
GVA — construction (F)
€151M
2024 · EU pctl 13
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€636M
2024 · EU pctl 22
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€6,200
2023 · EU pctl 0 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
36,200 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 63
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€22,400
2024 · EU pctl 23
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€1,872M
2023 · EU pctl 4 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€382M
2023 · EU pctl 8 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€4,209M
2023 · EU pctl 5 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€272M
2024 · EU pctl 17
GVA — information & communication (J)
€28M
2024 · EU pctl 19
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€450M
2024 · EU pctl 12
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€614M
2024 · EU pctl 14
Labour market
Employment, total persons
148,540
2023 · EU pctl 62
Self-employed persons
34,720
2023 · EU pctl 76
Employment in manufacturing (C)
36,090
2023 · EU pctl 77
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
72.5%
2025 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
16.3%
2025 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
14,865
2023 · EU pctl 51
Enterprise births
1,411
2023 · EU pctl 53
Enterprise deaths
2,119
2023 · EU pctl 70
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.9%
2023 · EU pctl 63
Innovation & R&D
EPO patent applications
0
2008 · EU pctl 1
EPO patent applications per million inhabitants
1 /M pop
2008 · EU pctl 0
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.3%
2023 · EU pctl 2 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
2.4%
2025 · EU pctl 10 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
30.9%
2025 · EU pctl 32 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
33.5%
2025 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
4.3%
2025 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
21.4%
2025 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
6.4%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
91.6%
2025 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
657,087
2024 · EU pctl 40
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
450 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 11 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
69
CURRENT · EU pctl 66
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
174,874
2025 · EU pctl 55
Population aged 65+
71,604
2025 · EU pctl 60
Population aged under 15
42,258
2025 · EU pctl 59
Median age of population
47.8 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 66
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.9%
2025 · EU pctl 72
Crude rate of total population change
-5.6 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
1.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 25
Crude birth rate
8.8 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 79
Crude death rate
16.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Live births
2,546
2024 · EU pctl 64
Deaths
4,719
2024 · EU pctl 72
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
65.1%
2025 · EU pctl 81
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.94
2024 · EU pctl 99
Population density (persons per km²)
57 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 20
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
35.8%
2025 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Life expectancy at birth
75.7 yrs
2024 · EU pctl 2 · NUTS-2 src
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
793 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 96 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
2,099 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
215 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 30 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 51
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
16.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
62.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 9
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
365 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 22
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
79 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
386 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 72
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
34 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 86
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
63 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 56
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
6 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 73
Environment
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
13
2024 · EU pctl 56
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
45
2024 · EU pctl 9
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Bulgaria regions