17.4.2007

Bulgaria has lowest population growth in EU

Bulgaria's population has dropped by 1 million to 7.7 million since the end of communist rule in 1989, a nearly catastrophic decrease in such a small country.

The Balkan state, which joined the European Union in January, has the lowest population growth rate in the 27-nation bloc, according to figures released recently by the National Statistics Institute.
If the trend of emigration and a high mortality rate continues, Bulgaria could lose a third of its population in a few decades' time, experts said. According to an analysis by the Washington D.C.-based Population Reference Bureau, published earlier this year, Bulgaria's population will decline by 34% from 2005 to 2050, falling to 5 million people.
Despite a steady economic growth of more than 5% in the last years, living standards in Bulgaria remain low. The average monthly salary is the equivalent of EUR180, and 9% of the work force is unemployed, prompting many to seek jobs in other E.U. countries.

The country's natural growth rate -- the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths per 1,000 annually -- stood at minus 5.1 in 2006, the lowest in Europe. Bulgaria's birth rate decreased from 12.1 in 1990 to 9.6 in the same year - comparable to the rate in Greece, Hungary and Italy. But the mortality rate stood far above the European average at 14.7 in 2006, compared to 8.4 in France and 6.6 in Ireland. Some 113,438 deaths were recorded in 2006 and only 73,978 births. The current life expectancy is approximately 69 years for men and 76 for women, while the average age of the population stood at 41.4 years.


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