NUTS-3 LV009 · Latvia
Zemgale
Zemgale generates €3.1bn of GDP across 221.9k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 28.5/100 sits in the lower tier of EU regions, led by economic growth and livability. Its economy has grown +7.7%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 1.2pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for digital connectivity (63th EU percentile) and weakest for health (6th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Persistent laggard2 → 8 EU percentile since 1995 (+6 ranks)
Yearly EU-wide percentile of real GDP per head (ARDECO regional accounts, constant 2020 prices, derived over population). 50 = the EU median that year; percentiles are scale-free, so decades are directly comparable. See the backtest for what long-run prosperity ranks do — and don't — anticipate.
Mandate pillar profile · EU percentiles (screener dimensions)
Freight intensity86
Cost advantage84
Energy cost73
Talent & skills57
Industrial base56
Growth momentum56
Connectivity50
Labour market46
Governance36
Quality of life32
Resilience31
Digital readiness31
Economic base4
Demographic outlook1
Each bar is this region's EU percentile on a screener pillar (higher = better for siting; cost & energy are inverted so cheap scores high). These are the exact weights you tune in the Site Screener.
Opportunity Index · composite triage (experimental)
28.5
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth55.6
Livability32.2
Market access11
Economic scale15
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)
31.3
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability11
Labour stability10
Diversification89
Demographic stability15
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)
50.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density95
Airport access45
Market access11
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)
56.8
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary66
Lifelong learning59
Knowledge workers57
Scientists & engineers45
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)
32.2
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy10
Jobs35.5
Education47.5
Health6
Safety31.3
Connectivity63
Environment—
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
55.6
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+7.7%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+6.0%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.6 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.6 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.7%
CAGR
Employment rate
+1.2 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-1.2 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: Industry · 26.7%Diversified · HHI 1973
Agriculture 12.4%Industry 26.7%Construction 6%Trade · transport · ICT 19.5%Finance · real estate · prof. 12.1%Public · health · education 23.4%
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).
Trends · 2009–2023
GDP (current prices)
€3,067M2023
2.7% 1y 7.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 15
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€2,501M2025
2.1% 1y 1.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 15
Population
221,9312025
1.2% 1y 0.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 45
Unemployment rate
6.9%2025
4.2% 1y 1.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 75
Employment
91,0102023
4.2% 1y 1.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 41
Productivity / employee
€37,3862025
6.4% 1y 7.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 7
Gross value added
€2,696M2023
3.4% 1y 8.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 15
All indicators · 84 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,696M
2023 · EU pctl 15
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€334M
2023 · EU pctl 76
GVA — industry (B–E)
€719M
2023 · EU pctl 22
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€502M
2023 · EU pctl 22
GVA — construction (F)
€161M
2023 · EU pctl 14
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€527M
2023 · EU pctl 16
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€12,000
2024 · EU pctl 16 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
17,300 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 4
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€13,600
2023 · EU pctl 7
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€9,718M
2023 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€1,006M
2023 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€21,296M
2024 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€203M
2023 · EU pctl 11
GVA — information & communication (J)
€25M
2023 · EU pctl 16
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€326M
2023 · EU pctl 7
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€630M
2023 · EU pctl 15
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€2,501M
2025 · EU pctl 15
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€37,386
2025 · EU pctl 7
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€784M
2025 · EU pctl 18
Labour market
Employment, total persons
91,010
2023 · EU pctl 41
Self-employed persons
12,680
2023 · EU pctl 42
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,990
2023 · EU pctl 43
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.6%
2025 · EU pctl 49 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
14.8%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.9%
2025 · EU pctl 75
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
113,800
2025 · EU pctl 47
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
11,689
2023 · EU pctl 45
Enterprise births
1,573
2023 · EU pctl 56
Enterprise deaths
792
2023 · EU pctl 43
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.0%
2023 · EU pctl 65
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.9%
2024 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
5.3%
2025 · EU pctl 70 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.8%
2024 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
40.7%
2025 · EU pctl 73 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
44.7%
2025 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
11.4%
2025 · EU pctl 59 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
24.8%
2025 · EU pctl 57 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
8.0%
2025 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
94.1%
2025 · EU pctl 31 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
191,739
2024 · EU pctl 11
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
424 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 6 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
11,057 kt
2025 · EU pctl 67
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
2,498
CURRENT · EU pctl 86
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
1,126
CURRENT · EU pctl 95
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
59
CURRENT · EU pctl 54
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)
139,736
2025 · EU pctl 46
Population aged 65+
47,918
2025 · EU pctl 40
Population aged under 15
34,277
2025 · EU pctl 50
Median age of population
44.4 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 31
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
34.3%
2025 · EU pctl 35
Crude rate of total population change
-11.7 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 2
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-4.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 2
Crude birth rate
6.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 32
Crude death rate
14.2 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 83
Live births
1,551
2024 · EU pctl 43
Deaths
3,173
2024 · EU pctl 53
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
58.8%
2025 · EU pctl 46
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.34
2024 · EU pctl 40
Population density (persons per km²)
21 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 4
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
108,221
2100 · EU pctl 21
Health
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,728 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
278 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 92 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
2.7 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 96
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
8.0 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 18
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
129 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 29
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
514 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
60 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.73
2022 · EU pctl 30
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.96
2022 · EU pctl 38
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.01
2022 · EU pctl 37
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.82
2022 · EU pctl 39
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.78
2022 · EU pctl 88
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.114/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 27
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.050/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 38
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
29 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 10
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 19
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
108 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 90
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
2 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 11
Environment
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
26.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 47
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
13.2%
2021 · EU pctl 92
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Latvia regions