Bulgarian diaspora

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The Bulgarian diaspora consists of citizens of Bulgaria abroad.

The number of Bulgarians outside Bulgaria has sharply increased since 1991, following the collapse of the communism in Eastern Europe. Over one million Bulgarians have left the country, either permanently or as temporary workforce, leading to a marked decline in its population. Many took advantage of the US green card lottery system (people applied for tickets, they did not purchase them). Also many Bulgarians immigrated to Canada using the advantage of the Canadian immigration point system for skilled workers. Others went across the EU. In countries such as Greece and Spain many Bulgarians work and stay there intermittently while retaining Bulgaria as their permanent residence, especially after the country became an EU member state in 2007.

Most of the causes for the spread of the post-1990s Bulgarian diaspora throughout the EU and North America have been related to work and education. Therefore the majority of the emigrants have been allowed residence in other countries on skilled worker or student basis. That includes people of various skills - Lower education workers, which usually deal with utilities and housekeeping - plumbers, construction workers, gardeners, handymen, maids; as well as a substantial amount of higher-education specialists - usually from the areas of Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry and Medicine.

The largest communities of the Bulgarian diaspora in Western Europe are in Spain, Germany, UK, France and Italy.

Other places that attracted Bulgarian immigration are Australia and South America, especially Argentina and Brazil.

Distribution by country

Country	Bulgarian Citizens
Turkey	500,000 As of 2011
Austria	12,000 As of 2011
Belgium	18,000 As of 2011
Macedonia	50,000 As of 2011
Denmark	4200 As of 2011
Netherlands	12,340 As of 2011
Poland	14,000 As of 2011
Portugal	15,000 As of 2011
Switzerland	4,500 As of 2011
Sweden	4,000 As of 2011
Ukraine	420 As of 2011
Argentina	2,500 As of 2011
Brazil	277 As of 2011
Moldova	20,000 As of 2011
Spain	250,000 As of 2011
United Kingdom	100,000 As of 2011
USA	300,000 As of 2011
Germany	74,869 As of 2011
Canada	70,000 As of 2011
New Zealand	3,000
Greece	300,000 As of 2011
UAE	3,500 As of 2011
Russia	32,265 As of 2011
Israel	7,500 As of 2011
Italy	100,000 As of 2011
Ireland	3,000 As of 2011
Romania	2,000 As of 2011
Kazakhstan	20 As of 2011
Austria	15,000 As of 2011
Czech Republic	3,206 As of 2011
France	30,000 As of 2011
Qatar	8,000
Hungary	2,800 As of 2011
Syria	1,200 As of 2011
Lebanon	1,000
Jordan	1,000 As of 2011
RSA	20,000 As of 2011
Australia	15,000 As of 2011
Honduras	7,500 - 10,000
Kuwait	700 As of 2011
Latvia	921 (2011 est.)
TOTAL	2,009,718 - 2,012,218 ( Bulgaria: 7,364,570 As of 2011 )

See also

• Bulgarians
• List of Bulgarians
• Bulgarian Americans
• Bulgarian Canadians
• Bulgarians in South America
• Bulgarian Australian
• Bulgarians in Serbia
• Banat Bulgarians
• Bessarabian Bulgarians
• Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia

External links

• Data