NUTS-3 PT112 · Portugal
Cávado
Cávado generates €9.9bn of GDP across 433k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 50.9/100 is mid-table of EU regions, led by economic growth and economic scale. Its economy has grown +6.2%/yr over five years, with the employment rate up 4.4pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for health (75.5th EU percentile) and weakest for clean environment (7th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Persistent laggard22 → 23 EU percentile since 1995 (+1 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)
Energy cost90
Cost advantage80
Growth momentum76
Resilience66
Industrial base64
Talent & skills63
Connectivity48
Labour market46
Quality of life41
Governance37
Economic base31
Demographic outlook11
Air quality7
Digital readiness6
Freight intensity2
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)
50.9
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth76
Livability40.6
Market access28
Economic scale59
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)
65.5
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability65
Labour stability12
Diversification97
Demographic stability88
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)
48
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density54
Airport access62
Market access28
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)
63
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary50
Lifelong learning76
Knowledge workers52
Scientists & engineers74
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)
7
/ 100 · higher = cleaner air than more EU regions · 2/3 pollutants
PM2.5—
PM1023.3 µg/m³
NO226 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)
40.6
/ 100 · EU-relative · 7/7 pillars
Economy25.5
Jobs38.5
Education46.5
Health75.5
Safety61
Connectivity30
Environment7
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
76
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+6.2%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+6.0%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+0.1 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+0.3 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
+0.8%
CAGR
Employment rate
+4.4 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
-0.6 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 · 22.7%Diversified · HHI 1799
Agriculture 1.5%Industry 22.7%Construction 9.4%Trade · transport · ICT 20.8%Finance · real estate · prof. 20.6%Public · health · education 18.4%
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 · 2009–2024
GDP (current prices)
€9,936M2024
7.4% 1y 6.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 59
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€8,446M2025
1.9% 1y 3.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 58
Population
433,0392025
0.7% 1y 0.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 73
Unemployment rate
6.3%2025
4.5% 1y 1.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 70
Employment
212,5502023
1.7% 1y 1.1% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 75
Productivity / employee
€48,2222025
3.5% 1y 6.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 18
Gross value added
€8,640M2024
7.2% 1y 6.3% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 57
All indicators · 87 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€8,640M
2024 · EU pctl 57
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€126M
2023 · EU pctl 45
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,957M
2023 · EU pctl 57
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,753M
2023 · EU pctl 62
GVA — construction (F)
€808M
2023 · EU pctl 74
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€1,800M
2023 · EU pctl 59
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€13,800
2023 · EU pctl 20 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
28,000 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 31
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€23,000
2024 · EU pctl 24
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€16,004M
2023 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€3,831M
2023 · EU pctl 77 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€39,066M
2023 · EU pctl 58 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€856M
2023 · EU pctl 47
GVA — information & communication (J)
€262M
2023 · EU pctl 62
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€1,780M
2023 · EU pctl 57
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€1,588M
2023 · EU pctl 52
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€8,446M
2025 · EU pctl 58
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€48,222
2025 · EU pctl 18
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€2,126M
2025 · EU pctl 58
Labour market
Employment, total persons
212,550
2023 · EU pctl 75
Self-employed persons
31,700
2023 · EU pctl 72
Employment in manufacturing (C)
50,910
2023 · EU pctl 88
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
77.8%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
18.4%
2025 · EU pctl 65 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
6.3%
2025 · EU pctl 70
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
232,600
2025 · EU pctl 76
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
55,334
2023 · EU pctl 87
Enterprise births
8,352
2023 · EU pctl 93
Enterprise deaths
5,761
2023 · EU pctl 91
3-year enterprise survival rate
5.4%
2023 · EU pctl 73
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
2.0%
2024 · EU pctl 66 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
4.4%
2025 · EU pctl 51 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
1.6%
2024 · EU pctl 73 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
29.8%
2025 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
41.3%
2025 · EU pctl 50 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
15.7%
2025 · EU pctl 76 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
23.3%
2025 · EU pctl 52 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
10.5%
2025 · EU pctl 74 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
88.8%
2025 · EU pctl 6 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
1,314,621
2025 · EU pctl 59
Mobility
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
2,191 kt
2025 · EU pctl 14
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1,890
CURRENT · EU pctl 78
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
437
CURRENT · EU pctl 54
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
43
CURRENT · EU pctl 37
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)
285,820
2025 · EU pctl 74
Population aged 65+
92,452
2025 · EU pctl 70
Population aged under 15
54,767
2025 · EU pctl 69
Median age of population
46.0 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 49
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
32.3%
2025 · EU pctl 23
Crude rate of total population change
15.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 96
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
15.9 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 95
Crude birth rate
7.4 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Crude death rate
8.0 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 6
Live births
3,306
2024 · EU pctl 73
Deaths
3,538
2024 · EU pctl 59
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
51.5%
2025 · EU pctl 9
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.27
2024 · EU pctl 29
Population density (persons per km²)
350 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 77
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
263,837
2100 · EU pctl 58
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
327 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 29 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
914 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 27 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
207 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 18 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.2 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 23
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
35.8 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 72
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
114 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 24
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
527 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 33
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
50 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 61 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.02
2022 · EU pctl 32
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.81
2022 · EU pctl 32
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
1.13
2022 · EU pctl 46
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.79
2022 · EU pctl 37
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.89
2022 · EU pctl 91
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.107/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 10
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.045/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 11
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
215 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 50
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
22 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 78
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
7 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 8
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
29 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 99
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 89
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) annual mean concentration — a traffic / combustion pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data). Lower is better.
26
2024 · EU pctl 97
O3 (ground-level ozone) annual mean concentration — a summer-smog pollutant; mean across EEA monitoring stations within the region (verified E1a data).
41
2024 · EU pctl 3
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
19.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 36
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
4.5%
2021 · EU pctl 64
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Portugal regions