Demographics of Bulgaria
The demography of the Republic of Bulgaria is monitored by the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.
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 very high Human Development Index of 0.813, ranking 51st in the world in 2018 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.
Demographic history
Various estimates have put Bulgaria's medieval population at 1.1 million in 700 AD and 2.6 million in 1365. At the 2011 census, the population inhabiting Bulgaria was 7,364,570 in total, but more recent estimates calculate that the population has declined to 6.9 million. The peak was in 1989, the year when the borders opened after a half of a century of communist regime, when the population numbered 9,009,018.Colors=
id:lightgrey value:gray
id:darkgrey value:gray
id:sfondo value:rgb
id:barra value:rgb
ImageSize = width:600 height:425
PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30
DateFormat = x.y
Period = from:0 till:10000000
TimeAxis = orientation:vertical
AlignBars = justify
ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:3000000 start:0
ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:1000000 start:0
BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo
BarData=
bar:1887 text:1887
bar:1892 text:1892
bar:1900 text:1900
bar:1905 text:1905
bar:1910 text:1910
bar:1920 text:1920
bar:1926 text:1926
bar:1934 text:1934
bar:1946 text:1946
bar:1956 text:1956
bar:1965 text:1965
bar:1975 text:1975
bar:1985 text:1985
bar:1989 text:1989
bar:1992 text:1992
bar:2001 text:2001
bar:2011 text:2011
bar:2015 text:2015
PlotData=
color:barra width:20 align:left
bar:1887 from: 0 till:3154375
bar:1892 from: 0 till:3310713
bar:1900 from: 0 till:3744283
bar:1905 from: 0 till:4035575
bar:1910 from: 0 till:4337513
bar:1920 from: 0 till:4846971
bar:1926 from: 0 till:5528741
bar:1934 from: 0 till:6077939
bar:1946 from: 0 till:7029349
bar:1956 from: 0 till:7613709
bar:1965 from: 0 till:8227966
bar:1975 from: 0 till:8727771
bar:1985 from: 0 till:8948649
bar:1989 from: 0 till:9009018
bar:1992 from: 0 till:8487317
bar:2001 from: 0 till:7932984
bar:2011 from: 0 till:7364570
bar:2015 from: 0 till:7153784
PlotData=
bar:1887 at:3154375 fontsize:XS text: 3154375 shift:
bar:1892 at:3310713 fontsize:XS text: 3310713 shift:
bar:1900 at:3744283 fontsize:XS text: 3744283 shift:
bar:1905 at:4035575 fontsize:XS text: 4035575 shift:
bar:1910 at:4337513 fontsize:XS text: 4337513 shift:
bar:1920 at:4846971 fontsize:XS text: 4846971 shift:
bar:1926 at:5528741 fontsize:XS text: 5528741 shift:
bar:1934 at:6077939 fontsize:XS text: 6077939 shift:
bar:1946 at:7029349 fontsize:XS text: 7029349 shift:
bar:1956 at:7613709 fontsize:XS text: 7613709 shift:
bar:1965 at:8227966 fontsize:XS text: 8227966 shift:
bar:1975 at:8727771 fontsize:XS text: 8727771 shift:
bar:1985 at:8948649 fontsize:XS text: 8948649 shift:
bar:1989 at:9009018 fontsize:XS text: 9009018 shift:
bar:1992 at:8487317 fontsize:XS text: 8487317 shift:
bar:2001 at:7932984 fontsize:XS text: 7932984 shift:
bar:2011 at:7364570 fontsize:XS text: 7364570 shift:
bar:2015 at:7153784 fontsize:XS text: 7153784 shift:
TextData=
fontsize:S pos:
text:
Vital statistics
Vital Statistics 1875 to 1915
The total fertility rate is the number of children born per woman. It is based on fairly good data for the entire period. Sources: Our World In Data and Gapminder Foundation.| Years | 1875 | 1876 | 1877 | 1878 | 1879 | 1880 |
| Total Fertility Rate in Bulgaria | 5.16 | 5.05 | 4.95 | 4.84 | 4.73 | 4.62 |
| Years | 1891 | 1892 | 1893 | 1894 | 1895 | 1896 | 1897 | 1898 | 1899 | 1900 |
| Total Fertility Rate in Bulgaria | 5.24 | 4.82 | 4.69 | 5.09 | 5.45 | 5.55 | 5.7 | 5.28 | 5.45 | 5.67 |
| Years | 1911 | 1912 | 1913 | 1914 | 1915 |
| Total Fertility Rate in Bulgaria | 5.52 | 5.48 | 5.45 | 5.42 | 5.39 |
Vital statistics 1900–1915
| Average population | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate | Crude death rate | Natural change | |
| 1900 | 3,710,000 | 157,000 | 84,000 | 73,000 | 42.3 | 22.6 | 19.7 |
| 1901 | 3,740,000 | 141,000 | 87,000 | 54,000 | 37.7 | 23.3 | 14.4 |
| 1902 | 3,800,000 | 149,000 | 91,000 | 58,000 | 39.2 | 23.9 | 15.3 |
| 1903 | 3,850,000 | 159,000 | 88,000 | 71,000 | 41.3 | 22.9 | 18.4 |
| 1904 | 3,910,000 | 167,000 | 84,000 | 83,000 | 42.7 | 21.5 | 21.2 |
| 1905 | 4,000,000 | 174,000 | 87,000 | 87,000 | 43.5 | 21.8 | 21.8 |
| 1906 | 4,100,000 | 179,000 | 91,000 | 88,000 | 43.7 | 22.2 | 21.5 |
| 1907 | 4,150,000 | 180,000 | 92,000 | 88,000 | 43.4 | 22.2 | 21.2 |
| 1908 | 4,200,000 | 169,000 | 102,000 | 67,000 | 40.2 | 24.3 | 16.0 |
| 1909 | 4,280,000 | 173,000 | 113,000 | 60,000 | 40.4 | 26.4 | 14.0 |
| 1910 | 4,350,000 | 180,000 | 100,000 | 80,000 | 41.4 | 23.0 | 18.4 |
| 1911 | 4,400,000 | 176,000 | 94,000 | 82,000 | 40.0 | 21.4 | 18.6 |
| 1912 | 4,430,000 | 185,000 | 91,000 | 94,000 | 41.8 | 20.5 | 21.2 |
| 1913 | 4,200,000 | 108,000 | 122,000 | -14,000 | 25.7 | 29.0 | -3.3 |
| 1914 | 4,240,000 | 191,000 | 88,000 | 103,000 | 45.0 | 20.8 | 24.3 |
| 1915 | 4,280,000 | 172,000 | 85,000 | 87,000 | 40.2 | 19.9 | 20.3 |
Vital statistics 1916–1940
| Average population | Live births | Deaths | Natural change | Crude birth rate | Crude death rate | Natural change | Total fertility rates | |
| 1916 | 4,660,000 | 99,000 | 97,000 | 2,000 | 21.2 | 20.8 | 0.4 | 5.38 |
| 1917 | 4,690,000 | 81,000 | 99,000 | -18,000 | 17.3 | 21.1 | -3.8 | 5.37 |
| 1918 | 4,740,000 | 100,000 | 152,000 | -52,000 | 21.1 | 32.1 | -11.0 | 5.36 |
| 1919 | 4,790,000 | 157,000 | 97,000 | 60,000 | 32.8 | 20.3 | 12.5 | 5.35 |
| 1920 | 4,850,000 | 193,000 | 104,000 | 89,000 | 39.8 | 21.4 | 18.4 | 5.35 |
| 1921 | 4,890,000 | 197,000 | 106,000 | 91,000 | 40.3 | 21.7 | 18.6 | 5.27 |
| 1922 | 5,010,000 | 203,000 | 106,000 | 97,000 | 40.5 | 21.2 | 19.4 | 5.19 |
| 1923 | 5,090,000 | 192,000 | 108,000 | 84,000 | 37.7 | 21.2 | 16.5 | 5.11 |
| 1924 | 5,210,000 | 207,000 | 108,000 | 99,000 | 39.7 | 20.7 | 19.0 | 5.03 |
| 1925 | 5,310,000 | 196,000 | 102,000 | 94,000 | 36.9 | 19.2 | 17.7 | 4.94 |
| 1926 | 5,420,000 | 203,000 | 93,000 | 110,000 | 37.5 | 17.2 | 20.3 | 4.80 |
| 1927 | 5,510,000 | 183,000 | 112,000 | 71,000 | 33.2 | 20.3 | 12.9 | 4.65 |
| 1928 | 5,590,000 | 185,000 | 99,000 | 86,000 | 33.1 | 17.7 | 15.4 | 4.50 |
| 1929 | 5,670,000 | 173,000 | 103,000 | 70,000 | 30.5 | 18.2 | 12.3 | 4.36 |
| 1930 | 5,740,000 | 180,000 | 93,000 | 87,000 | 31.4 | 16.2 | 15.2 | 4.05 |
| 1931 | 5,800,000 | 171,000 | 98,000 | 73,000 | 29.5 | 16.9 | 12.6 | 3.80 |
| 1932 | 5,884,000 | 186,000 | 96,000 | 90,000 | 31.6 | 16.3 | 15.3 | 4.07 |
| 1933 | 5,961,000 | 174,000 | 93,000 | 81,000 | 29.2 | 15.6 | 13.6 | 3.76 |
| 1934 | 6,039,000 | 181,795 | 85,046 | 96,749 | 30.1 | 14.1 | 16.0 | 3.88 |
| 1935 | 6,102,000 | 160,951 | 89,086 | 71,865 | 26.4 | 14.6 | 11.8 | 3.39 |
| 1936 | 6,154,000 | 159,146 | 87,723 | 71,423 | 25.9 | 14.3 | 11.6 | 3.33 |
| 1937 | 6,196,000 | 150,771 | 84,674 | 66,097 | 24.3 | 13.7 | 10.7 | 3.12 |
| 1938 | 6,244,000 | 142,415 | 85,373 | 57,042 | 22.8 | 13.7 | 9.1 | 2.92 |
| 1939 | 6,292,000 | 138,883 | 84,150 | 54,733 | 22.1 | 13.4 | 8.7 | 2.81 |
| 1940 | 6,341,000 | 140,564 | 85,046 | 55,518 | 22.2 | 13.4 | 8.8 | 2.84 |
Vital statistics 1941 to present
Current vital statistics
- Number of births January–March 2019 = 13,087
- Number of births January–March 2020 = 13,412
- Number of deaths January–March 2019 = 28,644
- Number of deaths January–March 2020 = 26,122
- Natural Decrease January–March 2019 = -15,577
- Natural Decrease January–March 2020 = -12,710
Birth rates and fertility
Seventy years ago, Bulgaria had a crude birth rate of 25,6‰. Ethnic Bulgarians had a much lower crude birth rate compared to the two largest minorities: Turks and Roma. However, it is unlikely that this difference continued since then, as birth rates in the Balkan countries dropped sharply.
Bulgaria has a low total fertility rate of 1.54 children per woman. This is up significantly from the late 1990s, but still below replacement and not enough to prevent further population decline, especially with emigration. Provinces with large Roma populations tend to have higher fertility rates compared to other areas, whereas Turkish fertility is similar to the Bulgarian majority.
| Province | TFR | TFR | TFR | TFR | TFR |
| Northwest Region | 1.53 | 1.72 | 1.72 | 1.75 | 1.77 |
| Vidin | 1.50 | 1.45 | 1.58 | 1.68 | 1.65 |
| Vratsa | 1.46 | 1.77 | 1.68 | 1.81 | 1.83 |
| Lovech | 1.58 | 1.66 | 1.79 | 1.89 | 1.84 |
| Montana | 1.52 | 1.74 | 1.65 | 1.67 | 1.62 |
| Pleven | 1.56 | 1.80 | 1.79 | 1.71 | 1.81 |
| North Central Region | 1.32 | 1.45 | 1.45 | 1.45 | 1.43 |
| Veliko Tarnovo | 1.19 | 1.40 | 1.43 | 1.34 | 1.27 |
| Gabrovo | 1.43 | 1.41 | 1.49 | 1.58 | 1.69 |
| Razgrad | 1.37 | 1.49 | 1.48 | 1.65 | 1.60 |
| Ruse | 1.34 | 1.40 | 1.37 | 1.41 | 1.30 |
| Silistra | 1.49 | 1.77 | 1.71 | 1.55 | 1.76 |
| Northeast Region | 1.53 | 1.50 | 1.48 | 1.49 | 1.52 |
| Varna | 1.57 | 1.45 | 1.44 | 1.44 | 1.47 |
| Dobrich | 1.44 | 1.53 | 1.51 | 1.44 | 1.56 |
| Targovishte | 1.67 | 1.59 | 1.57 | 1.63 | 1.61 |
| Shumen | 1.42 | 1.54 | 1.45 | 1.53 | 1.51 |
| Southeast Region | 1.67 | 1.82 | 1.88 | 1.84 | 1.87 |
| Burgas | 1.54 | 1.63 | 1.65 | 1.61 | 1.69 |
| Sliven | 1.95 | 2.24 | 2.34 | 2.27 | 2.35 |
| Stara Zagora | 1.64 | 1.73 | 1.80 | 1.76 | 1.72 |
| Yambol | 1.70 | 1.98 | 2.00 | 2.13 | 2.06 |
| Southwest Region | 1.42 | 1.36 | 1.38 | 1.38 | 1.42 |
| Blagoevgrad | 1.46 | 1.46 | 1.45 | 1.50 | 1.62 |
| Kyustendil | 1.33 | 1.63 | 1.75 | 1.76 | 1.95 |
| Pernik | 1.35 | 1.62 | 1.66 | 1.73 | 1.68 |
| Sofia | 1.45 | 1.74 | 1.73 | 1.80 | 1.91 |
| Sofia | 1.39 | 1.27 | 1.29 | 1.26 | 1.28 |
| South Central Region | 1.50 | 1.61 | 1.65 | 1.65 | 1.66 |
| Kardzhali | 1.49 | 1.64 | 1.66 | 1.70 | 1.74 |
| Pazardzhik | 1.58 | 1.72 | 1.75 | 1.85 | 1.81 |
| Plovdiv | 1.49 | 1.56 | 1.60 | 1.61 | 1.60 |
| Smolyan | 1.33 | 1.45 | 1.47 | 1.40 | 1.49 |
| Haskovo | 1.53 | 1.70 | 1.75 | 1.62 | 1.71 |
| Bulgaria | 1.49 | 1.54 | 1.56 | 1.56 | 1.58 |
Regional differences
As of 2017, the municipality of Nikolaevo has the highest crude birth rate with 18.6‰, followed by Tvarditsa and Kaynardzha. All these municipalities have relatively large Romani populations.On the other hand, the municipalities of Georgi Damyanovo, Banite and Nevestino have a extremely low birth rates. These municipalities are almost exclusively inhabited by ethnic Bulgarians.
Teenage pregnancy
Bulgaria has one of the highest share of teenage pregnancy in Europe. Nevertheless, this number is declining rapidly in recent years.The ten municipalities with the largest absolute number of teenage mothers are: Sliven, Sofia, Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Stara Zagora, Nova Zagora, Burgas, Yambol, Haskovo and Varna.
Life expectancy at birth
Average life expectancy at age 0 of the total population.| Period | Life expectancy in Years |
| 1950–1955 | 62.33 |
| 1955–1960 | 66.78 |
| 1960–1965 | 70.28 |
| 1965–1970 | 70.91 |
| 1970–1975 | 71.07 |
| 1975–1980 | 71.10 |
| 1980–1985 | 71.24 |
| 1985–1990 | 71.39 |
| 1990–1995 | 71.11 |
| 1995–2000 | 70.97 |
| 2000–2005 | 72.19 |
| 2005–2010 | 73.13 |
| 2010–2015 | 74.25 |
| 2016–2018 | 74.83 |
Kardzhali Province and Sofia City have the highest life expectancy with 76.6 years for both sexes. The lowest life expectancy is recorded in the Northwestern provinces like Montana, Vratsa and Vidin.
Infant mortality rate
Projections
The following forecast for the future population is an official estimate of the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.Demographic statistics
Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review.- One birth every 8 minutes
- One death every 5 minutes
- One net migrant every 111 minutes
- Net loss of one person every 11 minutes
;Population:
;Ethnic groups:
;Languages:
;Religions:
;Age structure:
;Median age:
;Birth rate:
;Death rate:
;Total fertility rate:
;Net migration rate:
;Population growth rate:
;Mother's mean age at first birth:
;Dependency ratios:
;Urbanization:
.rate of urbanization: -0.22% annual rate of change
;Life expectancy at birth:
;Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
;School life expectancy :
;Unemployment, youth ages 15–24:
Demographic policies
The progressive decrease of the Bulgarian population is hindering economic growth and welfare improvement, and the management measures taken to mitigate the negative consequences do not address the essence of the problem. The Government Program for the period 2017 - 2021 is the first one that aims at overturning the trend. The program also identifies the priority means for achieving this goal: measures to increase the birth rate, reduce youth emigration, and build up regulatory and institutional capacity to implement a modern immigration policy tailored to the needs of the Bulgarian business.Ethnic groups
The censuses in 1880, 1887 and 1892 did not have a question on ethnic affiliation.The following table shows the ethnic composition of all Provinces of Bulgaria according to the 2011 census:
Languages
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 ".According to the 2011 census, among the Bulgarians 99.4% indicate Bulgarian as a mother tongue, 0.3% - Turkish, 0.1% - Roma and 0.1% others; among Turks 96.6% have pointed the Turkish as a mother tongue and 3.2% - Bulgarian; among the Roma 85% indicate Roma language as a mother tongue, 7.5% - Bulgarian, 6.7% - Turkish and 0.6% - Romanian.
Religion
Bulgaria's traditional religion according to the constitution is the Orthodox Christianity, while Bulgaria is a secular state too. Since the last two censuses provide widely divergent results, they are both shown in the table below. It is noteworthy that over a fifth of the population chose not to respond to this question in the 2011 census.The results of the Bulgarian 2011 Census, in which the indication of answer regarding the question for confession was optional, are as follows:
| Group | Population | % of declared | % of total |
| Orthodoxy | 4,374,135 | 76.0% | 59.4% |
| Undeclared | 1,606,269 | - | 21.8% |
| Irreligion | 682,162 | 11.8% | 9.3% |
| Islam | 577,139 | 10.0% | 7.8% |
| Protestantism | 64,476 | 1.1% | 0.9% |
| Roman Catholicism | 48,945 | 0.8% | 0.7% |
| Oriental Orthodoxy | 1,715 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Jews | 706 | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| Others | 9,023 | 0.2% | 0.1% |
| Figure of percentage | - | 5,758,301 | 7,364,570 |
The results of the Bulgarian 2001 Census by ethnic groups, the latest census in which the indication of identification in the question for confession was obligatory, are as follows:
Migration
In relation to internal migration, according to the 1910 census, 300,000 or almost 10% of the ethnic Bulgarians were born in another Bulgarian municipality than the one they were enumerated in. The same data shows that the foreign-born ethnic Bulgarians numbered 78,000, or 2% of them, most numerous of whom were the 61,000 Ottoman-born, 9,000 Romanian-born and by less than 2,000 Austro-Hungarian, Serbian and Russian-born. By the 1926 census, there had been 253,000 refugees with granted households and land or citizenship but with many more in towns of uncertain number. 35% came from Eastern Thrace, 30% came from Greek Macedonia, another 18% from Western Thrace, 8% from Dobruja, 4% from the Western Outlands, 3% from Asia Minor, and 2% from North Macedonia. They constituted 6% of the country's population. In 1940, 70,000 Bulgarians were exchanged from Northern Dobruja. The total number of refugees in 1878-1940 is estimated at between 700,000 and 1,200,000.According to the 2011 census Russian citizens are the most numerous foreigners - 11 991, followed by 8 444 EU citizens, citizens of Ukraine - 3 064, North Macedonia - 1 091, Moldova - 893 and Serbia - 569. 22.8% of them are from Asia, mostly from Turkey. Those with dual Bulgarian and other citizenship were 22 152, or 0.3% of the population. Of them persons with Bulgarian and Russian citizenship were 5 257, followed by persons with Bulgarian and Turkish citizenship - 4 282, Bulgarian and citizenship of the USA- 1 725. There are at least 17,527 Refugees of the Syrian Civil War with applications in Bulgaria. In 2001-2015 185,447 people applied for Bulgarian citizenship and 116,222 were provided with. 113,647 were granted on grounds of proven Bulgarian ancestry, including 59,968 North Macedonia citizens. 29,218 were Moldovan citizens, 5930 Ukrainians, 5374 Serbians, 5194 Russians, 3840 Israeli, 2192 Albanians, 692 Turks and others. In 2016, 12,880 foreigners were naturalized, including 6196 Macedonians.
Population by country of birth:
| 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | |
| 7,290,666 | 7,188,273 | 7,077,389 | |
| Total foreign-born | 78,621 | 96,113 | 123,803 |
| 18,725 | 19,533 | 24,416 | |
| 3,955 | 6,227 | 9,284 | |
| 1,250 | 1,298 | 8,318 | |
| 4,928 | 7,377 | 7,166 | |
| 5,877 | 6,084 | 7,039 | |
| 2,083 | 3,638 | 5,533 | |
| 3,042 | 5,066 | 6,738 | |
| 1,558 | 4,065 | 5,240 | |
| 6,045 | 5,380 | 4,612 | |
| 1,082 | 2,261 | 2,830 | |
| 2,426 | 2,384 | 2,742 | |
| 1,180 | 2,023 | 2,431 | |
| 1,893 | 1,996 | 2,363 | |
| 2,306 | 2,246 | 2,318 | |
| 2,152 | 1,871 | 1,886 | |
| 562 | 1,255 | 1,781 | |
| 1,196 | 1,443 | 1,648 | |
| 1,472 | 1,422 | 1,565 | |
| 970 | 1,067 | 1,515 | |
| 410 | 1,009 | 1,481 | |
| 860 | 929 | 1,236 | |
| 924 | 1,028 | 1,186 | |
| 1,134 | 1,078 | 1,130 | |
| 298 | 735 | 1,040 | |
| 244 | 679 | 1,008 | |
| Unknown | 144 | 166 | 1,006 |
Foreigners by nationality:
| 2011 | 2015 | |
| Total | 36,723 | 65,622 |
| 11,991 | 17,943 | |
| 2,741 | 8,157 | |
| 729 | 7,508 | |
| 3,064 | 3,874 | |
| 2,605 | 3,693 | |
| Unknown | 2,538 | |
| 1,253 | 2,094 | |
| Stateless | 1,875 | |
| 1,091 | 1,289 | |
| 848 | 1,266 | |
| 1,167 | 1,175 | |
| 749 | 1,147 | |
| 893 | 1,018 | |
| 819 | 978 | |
| 876 | ||
| 456 | 815 | |
| 569 | 813 | |
| 706 | 806 | |
| 712 |
Age structure
At the 2011 census the largest decadal age group of the identified as Romani people is the 0–9 years old or 21% of them, the same age group accounted for 10% of the Turks and 7% of the Bulgarians. Experts estimate that the Romani in some provinces make up 40% of all aged between 0 and 9 years. Amongst those who did not answer the question onethnic group lowest is the share of people aged 60+ years.
Bulgarian children constitute the majority of all children in 23 out of 28 provinces. They constitute more than ninety percent of all children in two provinces: Sofia and Pernik Province.
Turkish children constitute the majority in Kardzhali Province and Razgrad Province ; they also constitute the largest group of all children in Silistra Province.
Roma children constitute 12% of all children in Bulgaria and more than a quarter in three provinces: Montana, Sliven and Yambol.
Bulgaria is ageing rapidly, especially in some remote rural areas.
The ageing of the population leads to an increase of the median age. The median age is 43.6 as of 2017, up from 40.4 years in 2001.
Sex ratio
Of the total 7,364,570 as of 2011, 3 586 571 are males and 3,777,999 are females, or there are 1053 women for 1,000 men.Education
Over 98% of the population is literate, the males being more literate than the females.According to the 2011 census, about 112,778 people aged nine or more are illiterate. There are considerable differences in the share of illiterate persons amongst the three main ethnic groups. Amongst the Bulgarian ethnic group the share of illiterate is 0.5%, amongst the Turkish - 4.7% and amongst the Roma ethnic group - 11.8%. About 81 thousand people aged seven or more never visited school.
Unemployment
The median unemployment for the country in 2011 was 10.1%.The number of unemployed people declined to 207 thousand people in 2017.
Most unemployed people are aged 15 to 24 years old.
The unemployment rate in rural areas is nearly two times higher than the unemployment rate in urban areas.
Vidin Province has the highest unemployment rate with almost one fifth of its labour force being unemployed. The provinces of Shumen, Silistra and Targovishte have also very high unemployment rates.