[size=55:9328z22g]novinite 27 July 2010

Bulgaria’s Population Crisis Worsens Despite Rising Birth Rate

Bulgaria's population growth is not improving despite the rise of its birth rate largely due to migration, according to latest Eurostat data about the population of the EU.

Bulgaria was the country with the highest death rate of all 27 EU member states in 2009 - 14.2 per 1000 inhabitants. The average EU 27 death rate in 2009 was 9.7 per 1000 (a total of 4.8 million deaths). Bulgaria is followed by Latvia (13.3‰), Hungary (13.0‰) and Lithuania (12.6‰), while the lowest death rates were in Ireland (6.6‰), Cyprus (6.7‰), Luxembourg (7.3‰) and Malta (7.8‰).

Bulgaria’s death rate is about the same as it was in 2000 (14.1 per 1000) but has declined compared with 2008, when it reached a peak of 14.5 per 1000.

In 2009, 5.4 million children were born in the EU27. The crude birth rate was 10.7 per 1000 inhabitants, slightly down compared with 2008 (10.9‰). The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (16.8‰), the United Kingdom (12.8‰), France (12.7‰), Cyprus (12.2‰) and Sweden (12.0‰), and the lowest rates in Germany (7.9‰), Austria (9.1‰), Portugal (9.4‰), Italy (9.5‰), Latvia and Hungary (both 9.6‰).

Bulgaria’s birth rate in 2009 was 10.7 per 1000, up from 10.2 in 2008, and 9.0 in 2000.

According to Eurostat, on January 1, 2010, Bulgaria had a population of 7.564 million, down from 7.607 million a year earlier.

Its population declined by 43 000 (-5.6 per 1000), including a difference of -27 000 (-3.6 per 1000) between births and deaths (81 000 live births in 2009 vs. 107 000 deaths), and a net migration outflow of -16 000 (-2 per 1000). In contrast, Bulgaria’s population declined by only -4.4 per 1000 in 2008, and -5.1 per 1000 in 2000.

Eurostat data shows improvement of Bulgaria’s natural population growth – it was -5.1 per 1000 in 2000, -4.3 per 1000 in 2008, and -3.6 per 1000 in 2009. The net migration outflow rate, however, is said to be worsening – from 0.0 per 1000 in 2000, to -0.1 per 1000 in 2008, and -2.1 in 2009.

On 1 January 20101, the population of the EU27 was estimated at 501.1 million, compared with 499.7 million on 1 January 2009. The population of the EU27 grew by 1.4 million in 2009, an annual rate of 2.7 per 1000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.5 million (+1.0‰) and net migration of 0.9 million (+1.7‰).

Compared with 2008, the demographic situation in 2009 in the EU27 is characterised by a slight decrease in the crude birth rate and a constant crude death rate, while net migration fell more significantly.

The population of the euro area (EA16) was estimated at 329.5 million on 1 January 2010, compared with 328.6 million on 1 January 2009. The population of the euro area grew by 0.9 million in 2009, an annual rate of +2.7‰, due to a natural increase of 0.3 million (+1.0‰) and net migration of 0.6 million (+1.8‰).

Amazing How do they keep track of all this information Somebody must be sending smoke signals or something

Oddy