NUTS-3 RO225 · Romania
Tulcea
Tulcea generates €2.9bn of GDP across 187.6k residents. Its Opportunity Index of 18.7/100 sits in the lower tier of EU regions, led by economic growth and livability. Its economy has grown +10.8%/yr over five years and accelerating, with the employment rate down 3.4pp. On quality of life it ranks strongest for safety (51.7th EU percentile) and weakest for education (0.5th).
Long-run trajectory · EU percentile of real GDP per head, 1995–2024
Persistent laggard5 → 5 EU percentile since 1995 (0 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 advantage97
Energy cost52
Growth momentum44
Resilience42
Industrial base35
Freight intensity26
Economic base23
Digital readiness22
Quality of life15
Talent & skills14
Connectivity13
Labour market3
Governance2
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)
18.7
/ 100 · blends growth, livability, market access & scale · 4/4 pillars
Growth43.8
Livability15
Market access3
Economic scale13
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)
41.8
/ 100 · higher = more resilient to downturns · 4/4 pillars
GDP stability4
Labour stability47
Diversification94
Demographic stability22
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)
13.3
/ 100 · higher = better-connected · 3/3 facets
Transit density15
Airport access22
Market access3
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)
13.5
/ 100 · higher = deeper skills base than more EU regions · 4/4 facets
Young tertiary0
Lifelong learning33
Knowledge workers2
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)
15
/ 100 · EU-relative · 6/7 pillars
Economy13
Jobs4
Education0.5
Health2.5
Safety51.7
Connectivity18.5
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
43.8
/ 100 momentum · EU-relative · 5/5 signals
GDP growth · 5-yr
+10.8%
CAGR, nominal
GDP growth · 10-yr
+9.4%
CAGR, nominal
Acceleration
+1.4 pp
5-yr vs 10-yr
vs country avg
+1.6 pp
inflation-adj.
Population · 5-yr
-0.5%
CAGR
Employment rate
-3.4 pp
5-yr change
Unemployment
+3.9 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 · 22.9%Diversified · HHI 1893
Agriculture 8.3%Industry 22.9%Construction 7.9%Trade · transport · ICT 20.8%Finance · real estate · prof. 18.9%Public · health · education 21.2%
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)
€2,877M2024
8.7% 1y 10.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 13
Real GDP (2020 prices)
€1,858M2025
0.3% 1y 1.4% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 9
Population
187,6192025
0.9% 1y 0.5% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 38
Unemployment rate
11.3%2025
15.3% 1y 8.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 95
Employment
92,8802024
0.0% 1y 0.2% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 41
Productivity / employee
€34,4872025
11.3% 1y 12.6% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 5
Gross value added
€2,607M2024
7.9% 1y 10.8% 5y CAGR
EU percentile 13
All indicators · 86 more metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€2,607M
2024 · EU pctl 13
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€217M
2024 · EU pctl 63
GVA — industry (B–E)
€596M
2024 · EU pctl 17
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€360M
2023 · EU pctl 15
GVA — construction (F)
€207M
2024 · EU pctl 21
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€543M
2024 · EU pctl 17
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source)
€7,700
2023 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
25,300 PPS
2024 · EU pctl 23
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€15,300
2024 · EU pctl 11
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy)
€6,740M
2023 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C)
€569M
2023 · EU pctl 13 · NUTS-2 src
Compensation of employees (total wage bill)
€11,406M
2023 · EU pctl 16 · NUTS-2 src
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€327M
2024 · EU pctl 21
GVA — information & communication (J)
€37M
2024 · EU pctl 24
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€492M
2024 · EU pctl 14
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€552M
2024 · EU pctl 12
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€1,858M
2025 · EU pctl 9
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€34,487
2025 · EU pctl 5
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€664M
2025 · EU pctl 13
Labour market
Employment, total persons
92,880
2024 · EU pctl 41
Self-employed persons
30,130
2023 · EU pctl 71
Employment in manufacturing (C)
14,840
2023 · EU pctl 43
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source)
63.8%
2025 · EU pctl 3 · NUTS-2 src
Youth unemployment rate (15–24)
31.4%
2025 · EU pctl 94 · NUTS-2 src
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
11.3%
2025 · EU pctl 95
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
75,800
2025 · EU pctl 29
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
7,331
2023 · EU pctl 30
Enterprise births
775
2023 · EU pctl 38
Enterprise deaths
428
2023 · EU pctl 23
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.5%
2023 · EU pctl 95
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP
0.1%
2023 · EU pctl 0 · NUTS-2 src
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total)
0.8%
2025 · EU pctl 0 · NUTS-2 src
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE)
0.1%
2023 · EU pctl 1 · NUTS-2 src
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64
14.1%
2025 · EU pctl 1 · NUTS-2 src
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool)
16.4%
2025 · EU pctl 0 · NUTS-2 src
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks)
9.2%
2025 · EU pctl 33 · NUTS-2 src
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force)
13.4%
2025 · EU pctl 2 · NUTS-2 src
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force)
6.4%
2025 · EU pctl 19 · NUTS-2 src
Digital
Households with internet access
93.4%
2025 · EU pctl 22 · NUTS-2 src
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
354,637
2025 · EU pctl 23
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants
415 /1k pop
2024 · EU pctl 4 · NUTS-2 src
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
3,437 kt
2025 · EU pctl 23
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
18
CURRENT · EU pctl 11
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²)
5 km/1000km²
2024 · EU pctl 12 · NUTS-2 src
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
10
CURRENT · EU pctl 15
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
85
CURRENT · EU pctl 78
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)
119,149
2025 · EU pctl 39
Population aged 65+
42,055
2025 · EU pctl 35
Population aged under 15
26,415
2025 · EU pctl 40
Median age of population
46.9 yrs
2025 · EU pctl 57
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
35.3%
2025 · EU pctl 41
Crude rate of total population change
-9.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 5
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
0.1 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 15
Crude birth rate
6.3 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 19
Crude death rate
15.5 /1k
2024 · EU pctl 92
Live births
1,185
2024 · EU pctl 32
Deaths
2,930
2024 · EU pctl 49
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
57.5%
2025 · EU pctl 38
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.38
2024 · EU pctl 47
Population density (persons per km²)
27 /km²
2024 · EU pctl 6
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
92,001
2100 · EU pctl 15
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants
638 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 84 · NUTS-2 src
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate)
1,908 /100k
2021 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate)
233 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 56 · NUTS-2 src
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
0.5 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 41
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
13.2 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 32
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
115 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 24
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
148 /100k
2024 · EU pctl 7
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants
94 /M pop
2024 · EU pctl 97 · NUTS-2 src
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.20
2022 · EU pctl 2
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.39
2022 · EU pctl 6
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.44
2022 · EU pctl 12
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.07
2022 · EU pctl 4
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.55
2022 · EU pctl 75
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.155/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 48
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.051/kWh
2025-S2 · EU pctl 39
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
67 m
CURRENT · EU pctl 19
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
27 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 82
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
53 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 44
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
CLIM_2014_2023 · EU pctl 43
Environment
Industrial facilities per 100k inhabitants (E-PRTR)
18.0 /100k
2023 · EU pctl 34
Population in the 100-year river floodplain (% of residents, EFAS × census grid)
8.5%
2021 · EU pctl 83
Similar regions · nearest peers on standardised NUTS-3 indicators
Other Romania regions