Demographics of Bulgaria

Demographics of Bulgaria
Population of Bulgaria (in millions) from 1960–2010.
Population:	7 364 570 (Census 2011)
Growth rate:	-4.6 people/1,000 population (2010)
Birth rate:	10.0 births/1,000 population (2010)
Death rate:	14.6 deaths/1,000 population (2010)
Life expectancy:	73.6 years (2010)
–male:	70.0 years
–female:	77.2 years
Fertility rate:	1.49 children born/woman (2010)
Infant mortality rate:	9.4 deaths/1,000 infants (2010)
Net migration rate:	-2.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009)
Age structure:
0-14 years:	13.2%
15-64 years:	68.3%
65-over:	18.5% (Census 2011)
Sex ratio:
At birth:	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15:	1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.97 male(s)/female
65-over:	0.68 male(s)/female
Nationality:
Nationality:	noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian
Major ethnic:	Bulgarians (84.8%)
Minor ethnic:	Turks (8.8%) and Roma (4.7%)
Language:
Official:	Bulgarian (85.2%)
Spoken:	Bulgarian, others

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Bulgaria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Bulgaria has a high Human Development Index of 0.743, ranking 58th in the world in 2010 and holds the 38th position in Newsweek's rankings of the world's best countries to live in, measuring health, education, political environment and economic dynamism.

Population

7,364,570 (Census 2011)

The still continuing decreasing after 1989 is a result of emigration caused by the fall of the communist regime. The total number of emigrants in the period 1989-2011 is more than 1 million and includes mostly young adults, the lost of young inhabitants resulted in higher ratio of the population over 65 years and made the natural growth negative which further reduces the population. The interest for emigration was highest in the first years after the fall of Todor Zhivkov's regime and from 1989 to 1992 Bulgaria lost more than half million inhabitants. Thereafter the interest for emigration started reducing and now the population is comparatively stabilizing, the growth rate is again negative, but is much lower – in the past decade the country lost about 500 000 inhabitants, compared to more than 1 million in the previous decade. After the reduced emigrant interest, Bulgaria decrease with 20,000–30,000 people for a year, while in some years after 1989 the country was decreasing with more than 150 000 people for a year.

Ethnic groups

Population of Bulgaria according to ethnic group 1900–2011

Ethnic group	census 1900		census 1905		census 1910		census 1920		census 1926		census 1934		census 1946		census 1956		census 1965		census 1975		census 1985		census 1992		census 2001		census 20111
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
Bulgarians	2,888,219	77.1	3,203,810	79.4	3,518,756	81.1	4,036,056	83.3	4,557,706	83.2	5,204,217	85.6	5,903,580	84.0	6,506,541	85.5	7,231,243	87.9	7,930,024	90.9	8million+	~90	7,271,185	85.7	6,655,210	83.9	5,664,624 (6,244,221)	84.8
Turks	531,240	14.2	488,010	12.1	465,641	10.7	520,339	10.7	577,552	10.5	591,193	9.7	675,500	9.6	656,025	8.6	780,928	9.5	730,728	8.4			800,052	9.4	746,664	9.4	588,318 (648,514)	8.8
Romani	89,549	2.4	99,004	2.5	122,296	2.8	98,451	2.0	134,844	2.5	149,385	2.5	170,011	2.4	197,865	2.6	148,874	1.8					313,396	3.7	370,908	4.7	325,343 (358,631)	4.9
Russians	1,685	0.0	3,275	0.2	2,505	0.2	9,080	0.2	19,706	0.4	11,928	0.2	13,200	0.2	10,551	0.1	10,815	0.1					17,139	0.2	15,595	0.2	9,978 (10,998)	0.1
Armenians	14,581	0.4			12,932	0.3	11,509	0.2	27,332	0.5	25,963	0.4	21,637	0.3	21,954	0.3	20,282	0.2	14,526	0.2			13,677	0.2	10,832	0.1	6,552 (7,222)	0.1
Vlachs															487	0.0							5,159	0.1	10,566	0.1	3,684 (4,060)	0.1
Sarakatsani			6,128	0.2	7,251	0.2									2,085	0.0							5,144	0.1	4,107	0.1	2,556 (2,817)	0.0
Ukrainians																							1,864	0.0	2,489	0.0	1,789 (1,972)	0.0
Macedonians	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	169,544	2.4	187,789	2.5	9,632	0.1					10,803	0.1	5,071	0.1	1,654 (1,823)	0.0
Greeks	66,635	1.8	63,487	1.6	43,275	1.0	42,074	0.9	10,564	0.2	9,601	0.2			7,437	0.1	8,241	0.1					4,930	0.1	3,408	0.0	1,379 (1,520)	0.0
Jews	33,661	0.9	37,663	0.9	40,133	0.9	43,209	0.9	46,558	0.8	48,565	0.8	44,209	0.6	6,027	0.1	5,108	0.1	3,076	0.0			3,461	0.0	1,363	0.0	1,162 (1,280)	0.0
Romanians	71,063	1.9	75,773	1.9	79,429	1.8	57,312	1.2	69,080	1.2	16,504	0.3			3,749	0.0							2,491	0.0	1,088	0.0	891 (982)	0.0
Tatars	18,884	0.5	17,942	0.4	18,228	0.4			6,191	0.1					5,993	0.1	6,430	0.1	5,963	0.1			4,515	0.1	1,803	0.0
Gagauzes			10,175	0.3					4,362	0.1													1,478	0.0	540	0.0
Others															13,199	0.2									39,492	0.5	19,659	0.3
Total	3,744,283		4,035,575		4,337,513		4,846,971		5,528,741		6,077,939		7,029,349		7,613,709		8,227,966		8,727,771		8,948,649		8,487,317		7,932,984		7,364,570
1 The percentages in the 2011 census make exception and are not from the total population but from the number of the persons that voluntarily declared their ethnic group because in the 2011 census the answer for this question was optional, the numbers in brackets are calculation with the same percentages from the total population.

The question for ethnic group first appeared in the 1900 census, but in the 3 censuses before there was a question for mother tongue instead: according to the 1892 census, 2,505,326 (75.7%) spoke the Bulgarian language as mother tongue, 569,728 the Turkish (17.2%), 58,518 the Greek (1.8%), 52,132 the Romani/Gypsy (1.6%) and 27,531 the Jewish (0.8%); according to the 1887 census 2,326,250 (73.7%) spoke the Bulgarian as mother tongue, 607,331 the Turkish (19.3%), 58,326 the Greek (1.8%), 50,291 the Romani/Gypsy (1.6%) and 23,571 the Jewish (0.7%); according to overall result from the two censuses in Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia in 1880, before the incorporating of Eastern Rumelia in Bulgaria's territory, those which speak Bulgarian as mother tongue were 1,919,067 (68.0%), which speak Turkish - 701,984 (24.9%), which speak Romani/Gypsy - 57,148 (2.0%), which speak Greek - 54,205 (1.9%) and which speak Jewish - 18,519 (0.7%). There are not reliable counts of the population in the region prior to the Liberation from Ottoman Rule in 1878, there were few Ottoman censuses but with exclusively many gaps and inaccuracies; the census in the Ottoman Empire in 1830 enumerated 3 million Bulgarian men, but the same census from 1830 counted only men and not women, i.e missed at least half of the number; the Ottoman census of 1844 counted 4.5 million Bulgarians but it had not less irregularities; having the enormous unreliability of the Ottoman censuses, the real number for the Bulgarians in the Empire in 19th century starts from 7 million.

Distribution of the ethnic groups (2001 census)

Vital statistics

1900–1915

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1900	3 710	157 000	84 000	73 000	42.3	22.6	19.7
1901	3 740	141 000	87 000	54 000	37.7	23.3	14.4
1902	3 800	149 000	91 000	58 000	39.2	23.9	15.3
1903	3 850	159 000	88 000	71 000	41.3	22.9	18.4
1904	3 910	167 000	84 000	83 000	42.7	21.5	21.2
1905	4 000	174 000	87 000	87 000	43.5	21.8	21.8
1906	4 100	179 000	91 000	88 000	43.7	22.2	21.5
1907	4 150	180 000	92 000	88 000	43.4	22.2	21.2
1908	4 200	169 000	102 000	67 000	40.2	24.3	16.0
1909	4 280	173 000	113 000	60 000	40.4	26.4	14.0
1910	4 350	180 000	100 000	80 000	41.4	23.0	18.4
1911	4 400	176 000	94 000	82 000	40.0	21.4	18.6
1912	4 430	185 000	91 000	94 000	41.8	20.5	21.2
1913	4 200	108 000	122 000	-14 000	25.7	29.0	-3.3
1914	4 240	191 000	88 000	103 000	45.0	20.8	24.3
1915	4 280	172 000	85 000	87 000	40.2	19.9	20.3

1916–1940

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)
1916	4 660	99 000	97 000	2 000	21.2	20.8	0.4
1917	4 690	81 000	99 000	-18 000	17.3	21.1	-3.8
1918	4 740	100 000	152 000	-52 000	21.1	32.1	-11.0
1919	4 790	157 000	97 000	60 000	32.8	20.3	12.5
1920	4 850	193 000	104 000	89 000	39.8	21.4	18.4
1921	4 890	197 000	106 000	91 000	40.3	21.7	18.6
1922	5 010	203 000	106 000	97 000	40.5	21.2	19.4
1923	5 090	192 000	108 000	84 000	37.7	21.2	16.5
1924	5 210	207 000	108 000	99 000	39.7	20.7	19.0
1925	5 310	196 000	102 000	94 000	36.9	19.2	17.7
1926	5 420	203 000	93 000	110 000	37.5	17.2	20.3
1927	5 510	183 000	112 000	71 000	33.2	20.3	12.9
1928	5 590	185 000	99 000	86 000	33.1	17.7	15.4
1929	5 670	173 000	103 000	70 000	30.5	18.2	12.3
1930	5 740	180 000	93 000	87 000	31.4	16.2	15.2
1931	5 800	171 000	98 000	73 000	29.5	16.9	12.6
1932	5 884	186 000	96 000	90 000	31.6	16.3	15.3
1933	5 961	174 000	93 000	81 000	29.2	15.6	13.6
1934	6 039	181 795	85 046	96 749	30.1	14.1	16.0
1935	6 102	160 951	89 086	71 865	26.4	14.6	11.8
1936	6 154	159 146	87 723	71 423	25.9	14.3	11.6
1937	6 196	150 771	84 674	66 097	24.3	13.7	10.7
1938	6 244	142 415	85 373	57 042	22.8	13.7	9.1
1939	6 292	138 883	84 150	54 733	22.1	13.4	8.7
1940	6 341	140 564	85 046	55 518	22.2	13.4	8.8

1941 till present

	Average population (x 1000)	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Fertility rates
1941	6 711	147 293	85 011	62 282	21.9	12.7	9.3
1942	6 767	153 272	88 082	65 190	22.6	13.0	9.6
1943	6 823	148 840	88 386	60 454	21.8	13.0	8.9
1944	6 879	151 013	94 082	56 931	22.0	13.7	8.3
1945	6 936	166 960	103 591	63 369	24.1	14.9	9.1
1946	6 993	179 226	95 799	83 427	25.6	13.7	11.9
1947	7 048	169 501	94 395	75 106	24.0	13.4	10.7
1948	7 130	175 771	89 927	85 844	24.7	12.6	12.0
1949	7 195	177 734	84 675	93 059	24.7	11.8	12.9
1950	7 251	182 571	74 134	108 437	25.2	10.2	15.0
1951	7 258	152 803	77 364	75 439	21.1	10.7	10.4
1952	7 275	154 014	84 254	69 760	21.2	11.6	9.6
1953	7 346	153 220	68 055	85 165	20.9	9.3	11.6
1954	7 423	149 902	68 384	81 518	20.2	9.2	11.0
1955	7 499	150 978	67 960	83 018	20.1	9.1	11.1
1956	7 576	147 910	71 153	76 757	19.5	9.4	10.1
1957	7 651	141 035	65 807	75 228	18.4	8.6	9.8
1958	7 728	138 294	60 734	77 560	17.9	7.9	10.0
1959	7 798	136 892	73 850	63 042	17.6	9.5	8.1
1960	7 867	140 082	63 665	76 417	17.8	8.1	9.7	2,31
1961	7 943	137 861	62 562	75 299	17.4	7.9	9.5	2,29
1962	8 013	134 148	69 640	64 508	16.7	8.7	8.1	2,24
1963	8 078	132 143	66 057	66 086	16.4	8.2	8.2	2,21
1964	8 144	130 958	64 479	66 479	16.1	7.9	8.2	2,19
1965	8 201	125 791	66 970	58 821	15.3	8.2	7.2	2,09
1966	8 258	123 039	68 366	54 673	14.9	8.3	6.6	2,03
1967	8 310	124 582	74 696	49 886	15.0	9.0	6.0	2,02
1968	8 370	141 460	72 176	69 284	16.9	8.6	8.3	2,27
1969	8 434	143 060	80 183	62 877	17.0	9.5	7.5	2,27
1970	8 490	138 745	77 095	61 650	16.3	9.1	7.3	2,17
1971	8 536	135 422	82 805	52 617	15.9	9.7	6.2	2,10
1972	8 576	131 316	84 174	47 142	15.3	9.8	5.5	2,03
1973	8 621	139 713	81 470	58 243	16.2	9.5	6.8	2,15
1974	8 679	149 196	85 239	63 957	17.2	9.8	7.4	2,29
1975	8 721	144 668	89 974	54 694	16.6	10.3	6.3	2,23
1976	8 759	144 929	88 348	56 581	16.5	10.1	6.5	2,24
1977	8 804	141 702	94 362	47 340	16.1	10.7	5.4	2,20
1978	8 814	136 442	92 445	43 997	15.5	10.5	5.0	2,15
1979	8 826	135 358	94 403	40 955	15.3	10.7	4.6	2,11
1980	8 862	128 190	97 950	30 240	14.5	11.1	3.4	2,05
1981	8 891	124 372	95 441	28 931	14.0	10.7	3.3	1,99
1982	8 917	124 166	100 293	23 873	13.9	11.2	2.7	2,02
1983	8 940	122 993	102 182	20 811	13.8	11.4	2.3	2,00
1984	8 961	122 303	101 419	20 884	13.6	11.3	2.3	1,97
1985	8 960	118 955	107 485	11 470	13.3	12.0	1.3	1,95
1986	8 958	120 078	104 039	16 039	13.4	11.6	1.8	2,00
1987	8 971	116 672	107 213	9 459	13.0	12.0	1.0	1,96
1988	8 981	117 440	107 385	10 055	13.1	12.0	1.1	1,97
1989	8 877	112 289	106 902	5 387	12.6	12.0	0.6	1,90
1990	8 718	105 180	108 608	-3 428	12.1	12.5	-0.4	1,81
1991	8 632	95 910	110 423	-14 513	11.1	12.8	-1.7	1,65
1992	8 540	89 134	107 998	-18 864	10.4	12.6	-2.2	1,54
1993	8 472	84 400	109 540	-25 140	10.0	12.9	-2.9	1,45
1994	8 444	79 442	111 787	-32 345	9.4	13.2	-3.8	1,37
1995	8 406	71 967	114 670	-42 703	8.6	13.6	-5.0	1,23
1996	8 363	72 188	117 056	-44 868	8.6	14.0	-5.4	1,24
1997	8 312	64 125	121 861	-57 736	7.7	14.7	-7.0	1,09
1998	8 257	65 361	118 190	-52 829	7.9	14.3	-6.4	1,11
1999	8 211	72 291	111 786	-39 495	8.8	13.6	-4.8	1,23
2000	8 170	73 679	115 087	-41 408	9.0	14.1	-5.1	1,26
2001	7 910	68 180	112 368	-44 188	8.6	14.2	-5.6	1,22
2002	7 849	66 499	112 617	-46 118	8.5	14.3	-5.8	1,21
2003	7 786	67 359	111 927	-44 568	8.6	14.3	-5.7	1,23
2004	7 724	69 886	110 110	-40 224	9.0	14.2	-5.2	1,29
2005	7 667	71 075	113 374	-42 299	9.2	14.6	-5.4	1,32
2006	7 608	73 978	113 438	-39 460	9.6	14.7	-5.1	1,38
2007	7 552	75 349	113 004	-37 655	9.8	14.8	-5.0	1,42
2008	7 497	77 712	110 523	-32 811	10.2	14.5	-4.3	1,48
2009	7 447	81 572	108 068	-27 112	10.7	14.2	-3.5	1,57
2010	7 403	75 513	110 165	-34 652	10.0	14.6	-4.6	1,49
2011		69 673			9.5

Total fertility rate

1.49 children born/woman (2010)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 9.4 deaths/1,000 live births (2010)

Male: 10.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2009)

Female: 7.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2009)

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 73.6 years

Male: 70.0 years

Female: 77.2 years (2010 est.)

Age structure

0–17 years: 13.2%

18–65 years: 68.3%

65 years and over: 18.5% (Census 2011)

Urbanization

Urban population: 72.5% of total population (Census 2011)

Rate of urbanization: -0.3% annual rate of change (2005–10 est.)

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1887	3,154,375	—
1892	3,310,713	+5.0%
1900	3,744,283	+13.1%
1905	4,035,575	+7.8%
1910	4,337,513	+7.5%
1920	4,846,971	+11.7%
1926	5,528,741	+14.1%
1934	6,077,939	+9.9%
1946	7,029,349	+15.7%
1956	7,613,709	+8.3%
1965	8,227,966	+8.1%
1975	8,727,771	+6.1%
1985	8,948,649	+2.5%
1989	9,009,018	+0.7%
1992	8,487,317	−5.8%
2001	7,932,984	−6.5%
2011	7,364,570	−7.2%
2021?	7,100,000	−3.6%
2031?	7,078,000	−0.3%
Source: Censuses in Bulgaria

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Median age

Total: 41.4 years

Male: 39.2 years

Female: 43.6 years

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female

Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15–64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female

Total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2009 est.)

HIV/AIDS

Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% (2011 est.)

People living with HIV/AIDS: 803 (November 2007)

Deaths: 100 (2011 est.)

Nationality

Noun: Bulgarian(s)

Adjective: Bulgarian

Religion

Orthodox Christian 76.0%,
people without religion 11.8%, Muslim 10.0%, Roman Catholic 0.8%, Protestant 1.1%, other 0.2% (2011 census)

Languages

Bulgarian (official) 85.2%,
Turkish 9.1%, Roma 4.2%, other 1.5% (2011 census)

The 2001 census defines an ethnic group as a "community of people, related to each other by origin and language, and close to each other by mode of life and culture"; and one's mother tongue as "the language a person speaks best and usually uses for communication in the family (household)".

Literacy

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

Total: 98.2%

Male: 98.7%

Female: 97.7% (2001 census)

Education expenditures

4.5% of total GDP (2005)

See also

• Immigration to Bulgaria
• Immigration to Europe
• List of countries by immigrant population
• Bulgaria
• Aging of Europe

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2008 edition".

External links

• 2005 Eurostat Report on European Demography
• Annual report of the National Statistics Institute for 2005 regarding population and demographic processes
• Bulgarian Subject Files – Social Issues: Minorities Open Society Archives, Budapest