1,2 Millionen Bulgaren sind in 20 Jahren ausgewandert

Number of Bulgarians leaving the country rose sharply in recent years – report

Fri, Feb 17 2012 10:13 CET

byThe Sofia Echo staff

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Photo: Nadezhda Chipeva

The number of Bulgarians emigrating has increased sharply in recent years, according to a report by Bulgarian National Radio on February 17 2012.

Unofficial estimates were that more than 1.2 million Bulgarians had quit the country in the past 20 years.

But the rate has been rising sharply in the past few years, the report said.

In 2007, close to 3000 Bulgarians gave official notice that they were living abroad. In 2009, the number was more than five times this, at close to 19 000.

In 2010, the number of Bulgarians who formally declared that they were living outside the country was more than 27 000, of whom 15 000 were women and 12 000 men.

In 1992, official statistics gave Bulgaria’s population as 8.5 million. According to the 2011 census, the country’s population was 7.3 million.

Bulgarian National Radio said that official European Union statistics gave the number of Bulgarians living in euro zone countries as 500 000. Unofficially, the real number was believed to be double this.