NUTS-3 PL517 · Poland
Wałbrzyski
Wałbrzyski generates €8.4bn of GDP across 571k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 45.3/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic scale and economic growth. Its economy has grown +6.3%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate up 4.9pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for education (70th EU percentile) and weakest for economy (12th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Persistent laggard6 → 10 EU percentile since 1995 (+3 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)
Cost advantage86
Freight intensity85
Industrial base84
Talent & skills80
Energy cost79
Digital readiness64
Labour market60
Growth momentum52
Quality of life40
Connectivity33
Demographic outlook33
Air quality26
Resilience20
Governance14
Economic base10
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)
45.3
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth52
Livability40.1
Market access36
Economic scale53
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)
20
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability24
Labour stability19
Diversification37
Demographic stability0
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)
33.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density22
Airport access42
Market access36
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)
80.3
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary82
Lifelong learning61
Knowledge workers90
Scientists & engineers88
Young tertiary attainment (25–34), adult lifelong learning, knowledge-worker share and scientists & engineers — each EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = deeper talent pool. Experimental.
Clean-Air Score · air-quality livability (experimental)
26
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 3/3 pollutants
PM2.515.1 µg/m³
PM1023.1 µg/m³
NO211 µg/m³
PM2.5, PM10 & NO2 annual means from official monitoring networks, inverted (lower pollution = higher) and EU-percentile-ranked. Higher = cleaner air; ground-level ozone is shown separately. Experimental.
Quality of Life · composite (experimental)
40.1
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy12
Jobs68.5
Education70
Health13.5
Safety47.3
Connectivity43
Environment26.3
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
52
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+6.3%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+5.6%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.8 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
-1.5 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-2.1%
CAGR
Employment rate
+4.9 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: Industry · 34.7%Diversified · HHI 2334
Agriculture 2.1%Industry 34.7%Construction 6.6%Trade · transport · ICT 20.1%Finance · real estate · prof. 16.1%Public · health · education 20.4%
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)
€8,440M2023
13.4% 1y 6.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€7,259M2025
3.9% 1y 3.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
Population
570,9962025
1.0% 1y 2.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 82
Unemployment rate
3.4%2025
30.6% 1y 3.7% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 24
Employment
218,4002023
0.0% 1y 0.9% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 76
Productivity / employee
€47,5162025
8.2% 1y 10.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 17
Gross value added
€7,626M2023
14.9% 1y 7.0% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 53
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€7,626M
2023 · EU pctl 53
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€157M
2023 · EU pctl 52
GVA — industry (B–E)
€2,648M
2023 · EU pctl 67
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€2,141M
2023 · EU pctl 69
GVA — construction (F)
€502M
2023 · EU pctl 54
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,535M
2023 · EU pctl 53
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€11,700
2023 · EU pctl 14 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
21,000 PPS
2023 · EU pctl 10
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€14,200
2023 · EU pctl 8
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€10,003M
2023 · EU pctl 34 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€2,337M
2023 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€25,600M
2023 · EU pctl 39 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,229M
2023 · EU pctl 42
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,554M
2023 · EU pctl 51
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€7,259M
2025 · EU pctl 53
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€47,516
2025 · EU pctl 17
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€1,590M
2025 · EU pctl 44
Labour market
Employment, total persons
218,400
2023 · EU pctl 76
Self-employed persons
39,000
2023 · EU pctl 79
Employment in manufacturing (C)
55,800
2023 · EU pctl 90
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.1%
2025 · EU pctl 45 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
18.0%
2025 · EU pctl 63 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.4%
2025 · EU pctl 24
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
279,300
2025 · EU pctl 82
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
35,320
2023 · EU pctl 77
Enterprise births
3,643
2023 · EU pctl 78
Enterprise deaths
4,777
2023 · EU pctl 87
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.3%
2023 · EU pctl 71
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
1.7%
2023 · EU pctl 54 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
6.8%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.4%
2023 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
44.2%
2025 · EU pctl 86 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
50.5%
2025 · EU pctl 82 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
11.7%
2025 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
32.4%
2025 · EU pctl 90 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
11.9%
2025 · EU pctl 88 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
96.2%
2025 · EU pctl 64 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
2,861,208
2024 · EU pctl 76
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
640 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
130
CURRENT · EU pctl 25
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
27,774 kt
2025 · EU pctl 94
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
23
CURRENT · EU pctl 22
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
12 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 25 · NUTS-2 src
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
61
CURRENT · EU pctl 58
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)
357,072
2025 · EU pctl 81
Population aged 65+
144,860
2025 · EU pctl 88
Population aged under 15
69,064
2025 · EU pctl 76
Median age of population
47.1 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 60
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
40.6%
2025 · EU pctl 71
Crude rate of total population change
-10.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 3
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
-1.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 9
Crude birth rate
5.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 3
Crude death rate
14.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 86
Live births
2,937
2024 · EU pctl 70
Deaths
8,322
2024 · EU pctl 91
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
59.9%
2025 · EU pctl 55
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
0.98
2024 · EU pctl 2
Population density (persons per km²)
138 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 52
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
337,151
2100 · EU pctl 69
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
729 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 91 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,486 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 85 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
280 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 93 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 75
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
181 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 43
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
258 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 16
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
52 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 67 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.52
2022 · EU pctl 6
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.69
2022 · EU pctl 24
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.35
2022 · EU pctl 4
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.67
2022 · EU pctl 24
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.54
2022 · EU pctl 69
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.113/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 21
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.064/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 90
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
371 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 70
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
4 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 23
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
93 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 84
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
5 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 61
Environment
PM10 (coarse particulate matter) annual mean concentration — mean across EEA air-quality monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
23
2024 · EU pctl 88
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
11
2024 · EU pctl 41
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
58
2024 · EU pctl 69
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
62.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 77
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
1.9%
2021 · EU pctl 36
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Poland regions