Listen to the news

NSI presented the population data by gender, age, legal marital status and by settlements.

By the end of October, the socio-economic characteristics of the country's population will be published - degree of completed education and economic activity.

6,519,789 people is the population of Bulgaria as of September 7, 2021, the NSI announced. 


Women are 3,383,527 (51.9%), and men 3,136,262 (48.1%).

There are 927 men per 1000 women.


After 1985, when the country's population reached almost 9 million people, there were four consecutive censuses during which the country's population decreased.

Since then, Bulgaria has decreased by a total of over 2,400,000 people.

As the largest decrease was in the last census, the country decreased by 844,781 people or 11.5%, according to NSI statistics. 



Factors that influence the number of the country's population are natural movement (births and deaths) and external migration.



Over the last ten-year period, the decrease from natural increase was 500,733 people, which is just over 50% of the total decrease, and from out-migration the decrease was 347,000 people.

Throughout the period, the country had negative natural growth.

It was the largest last year - 90,000 people, due to the large impact of the pandemic on the total mortality in the country, according to the data of the National Statistical Institute. 



Vidin region lost the most population, almost 1/4 of its population in the last 10 years.

Smolyan, Dobrich, Gabrovo and Veliko Tarnovo, which have lost about 1/5 of their population.

The region of Sofia - the capital - has decreased the least.



As of September 7, 2021

there are 5,257 inhabited places in the country, of which 257 are towns and 5,000 are villages.

4,782,064 people (73.3%) live in cities, and 1,737,725 people (26.7%) live in villages.



With a population of over 100,000 people, there are six cities in the country - Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse and Stara Zagora, where 34.5% of the country's population lives, or one in three

.

The smallest town is Melnik with a population of 161 and the largest village is Lozen with a population of 6,471.



The negative trends in the change in the age structure of the population continue to deepen.

There is an ongoing process of demographic aging.



As of September 7, 2021

the population aged 65 and over is 1,532,667 (23.5%), and the population of the 15-64 age group is 4,069,400 (62.4%). 


The previous national census was in 2011.

nsi

census