NUTS-3 BG424 · Bulgaria
Смолян
Smolyan
Export region data (CSV)Смолян generates €870M of GDP across 90.5k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 21.9/100 sits in the lower tier of EU regions, led by economic growth and livability. Its economy has grown +6.9%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 1.0pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for clean environment (97th EU percentile) and weakest for economy (1.5th).
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
21.9
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth45.8
Livability31.6
Market access9
Economic scale1
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)
27.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability15
Labour stability10
Diversification85
Demographic stability1
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)
29.5
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 2/3 facets
Transit density—
Airport access50
Market access9
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)
29.8
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary37
Lifelong learning13
Knowledge workers34
Scientists & engineers35
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)
31.6
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy1.5
Jobs49
Education16
Health2.5
Safety38
Connectivity17
Environment97
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
45.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+6.9%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+6.5%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.3 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-3.3 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-1.8%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.0 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.2 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: Public · health · education · 26.8%Diversified · HHI 2034
Agriculture 6.3%Industry 24.2%Construction 6.9%Trade · transport · ICT 18.6%Finance · real estate · prof. 17.2%Public · health · education 26.8%
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 · 67 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€759M
2024 · EU pctl 1
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€48M
2024 · EU pctl 20
GVA — industry (B–E)
€184M
2024 · EU pctl 3
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€171M
2024 · EU pctl 7
GVA — construction (F)
€52M
2024 · EU pctl 4
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€141M
2024 · EU pctl 1
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€6,700
2023 · EU pctl 1 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
15,400 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 2
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€9,500
2024 · EU pctl 2
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€2,738M
2023 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€682M
2023 · EU pctl 16 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€5,794M
2023 · EU pctl 7 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€101M
2024 · EU pctl 3
GVA — information & communication (J)
€3M
2024 · EU pctl 1
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€131M
2024 · EU pctl 1
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€203M
2024 · EU pctl 2
Labour market
Employment, total persons
51,330
2023 · EU pctl 17
Self-employed persons
14,390
2023 · EU pctl 48
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,010
2023 · EU pctl 41
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
69.9%
2025 · EU pctl 11 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
14.6%
2025 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
5,121
2023 · EU pctl 20
Enterprise births
461
2023 · EU pctl 22
Enterprise deaths
666
2023 · EU pctl 37
3-year enterprise survival rate
4.8%
2023 · EU pctl 60
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.4%
2023 · EU pctl 6 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
3.2%
2025 · EU pctl 21 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
29.3%
2025 · EU pctl 26 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
36.6%
2025 · EU pctl 37 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
6.8%
2025 · EU pctl 13 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
21.0%
2025 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
7.5%
2025 · EU pctl 35 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
92.3%
2025 · EU pctl 17 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
826,373
2024 · EU pctl 47
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
457 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
54
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
2
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
54,031
2025 · EU pctl 10
Population aged 65+
27,182
2025 · EU pctl 18
Population aged under 15
9,321
2025 · EU pctl 7
Median age of population
53.5 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 98
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
50.3%
2025 · EU pctl 94
Crude rate of total population change
-17.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 0
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-5.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 1
Crude birth rate
5.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 4
Crude death rate
17.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 98
Live births
479
2024 · EU pctl 7
Deaths
1,599
2024 · EU pctl 24
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
67.6%
2025 · EU pctl 86
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.52
2024 · EU pctl 75
Population density (persons per km²)
29 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 7
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE)
34.4%
2025 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Life expectancy at birth
76.1 yrs
2024 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
913 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
2,023 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 98 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
240 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 93
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
3.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 4
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
4.3 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 0
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
77.1 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 1
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
80 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
1,682 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 99
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 0
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
155 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 96
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
8 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 80
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.
3
2024 · EU pctl 3
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
83
2024 · EU pctl 99
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Bulgaria regions