[size=85:1wqecu7g]BNR

Bulgarian population reduces in number, gets older and migrates towards cities

There are almost 7 ½ mln. people living in Bulgaria. The women are a bit more than men. The demographic characteristics of the nation are worsening – it gets older too fast, the number of population is decreasing and people are concentrated mainly in big cities. That was what final data of the national census from the beginning of 2011 showed. Eurostat will summarize the results after its ending in the rest EU member-states.

Precisely 7,364,570 people live in this country. The ethnic group of the Bulgarians is the largest one – almost 5,700,000 men and women, or nearly 85 percent of the population. The Turkish ethnicity comes second with some 8 percent and the Roma people take the third position.

The alarming demographic statistical results that show decreasing and ageing of population are confirmed. Nowadays the Bulgarians count 600,000 people less on the 2001 census. The share of those over 65 years old increases and the one of children and young people below 15 goes down. There are two reasons for that. On one hand this is due to the negative population growth and on the other – to the migration process. The children born in Bulgaria are less than the people that died and this has been a trend of several decades. This nation ages in the fastest manner, compared to the rest Europeans. Less and less working Bulgarians will support more and more retired people. Thus the future social and economic development of this country faces serious issues. The current ratio is: 100 people that are retired are replaced by barely 70 young Bulgarians. Ten years earlier it was really better: 100 pensioners to 124 young people. The current numbers have to result in a quick development of the social systems for taking care of elderly people;
the labour market faces the lack of employees more and more often too. Migration processes are also a reason for some of these numbers. Some 175,000 people have left this country due to economic reasons since 2001.

Another negative trend, confirmed by statistics is also due to economic reasons. Bulgarians migrate to cities on a large scale, looking for a better job and lifestyle. Whole areas become desolated. Head of Directorate at the National Statistical Institute Finka Denkova sums up:
“There is a clear trend for concentrating of the population in the cities and several big regions. At the same time almost 40 percent of the Bulgarians live in 9 major municipalities. Some 1,300,000 people, or over 17 percent of the population live in the capital Sofia. The Vidin district remains the most desolated one with a bit over 1 percent of the population residing there.”

The accelerated urbanization process sets a series of problems before the development of Bulgarian towns and cities. At the same time no one lives in 180 villages, the census shows. Finka Denkova comments:
“The greatest number of settlements without inhabitants is in the Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo districts in Central North Bulgaria. Up to 50 people can be found in 1/5 of the Bulgarian settlements, while in less than 1/3 of the settlements live 100-500 men, women and children. Over 1/3 of the population live in the 7 biggest cities.”

There were 15 percent of unemployed people in this country in the beginning of February. The data of the National Employment Agency differs – 10 percent of unemployment, it says. Perhaps the difference is due to the fact that the agency takes into consideration only those people that have registered at the labour bureaus around the country.