Population: In 2004 Bulgaria’s population was estimated at 7,518,000 after reaching a peak of about 9 million in 1988. The population had a negative growth rate of –0.92 percent per year. Population density was 68 persons per square kilometer. As the result of a long urbanization trend that began after World War II, in 2005 about 70 percent of the population was urban. However, Sofia (1.1 million population) is the only city with more than 350,000 inhabitants. In the post-communist era, migration into and out of Bulgaria has increased significantly, and movement is expected to accelerate as Bulgaria becomes integrated into the European community. In 2004 the net migration rate was –4.6 people per 1,000 population. An estimated 200,000 permanent residents left the country between 1992 and 2002.
Demography: In 2004 some 14.4 percent of the population was 14 years of age or younger, and 17.1 percent was 65 years of age or older. The birthrate was 9.7 per 1,000 population, and the death rate was 14.3 per 1,000 population. The birthrate is expected to fall in the next 15 years because the childbearing age cohorts will be smaller during that period. In 2004 infant mortality was 21.3 deaths per 1,000 live births. Life expectancy was 68.2 years for males and 75.6 years for females. The fertility rate was 1.4 children per woman, a substantial decrease from the 1980 figure of 2.2 children per woman.
Ethnic Groups: In 2004 the major groups in Bulgaria’s population were Bulgarians, 83.9 percent; Turks, 9.4 percent; and Roma, 4.7 percent. Other ethnic groups were Armenians, Circassians, Macedonians, and Tatars. Since the campaign of the Zhivkov regime to assimilate the Turkish population in the 1980s, the only ethnic issue of consequence is that of the Roma, who complain of discrimination and are regarded by some Bulgarians as second-class citizens. After the local elections of 2003, 3 percent of municipal council members were Roma.
Languages: Bulgaria’s official language is Bulgarian, which is the first language of 84.5 percent of the population. Other languages spoken are roughly in proportion to the populations of ethnic groups present: Turkish (9.6 percent), Roma (4.1 percent), Armenian, Circassian, Macedonian, and Tatar. A population of about 12,000 Gagauz along the coast speaks Gagauz, a Turkic language.
Religion: Some 83.7 percent of Bulgaria’s inhabitants are Christians, of whom more than 95 percent are Eastern Orthodox, under the autocephalous exarchate of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. The Roman Catholic Church has about 80,000 adherents, and the Armenian Apostolic Church has about 20,000. Of the 12.2 percent of the population that is Muslim, most are Turks, but the Muslim population also includes the Pomaks, a group of Bulgarian Muslims. After the local elections of 2003, 12.5 percent of municipal mayors were Muslim. The Jewish population has been estimated at between 3,000 and 6,000.
Education and Literacy: In 2003 Bulgaria’s literacy rate was estimated at 98.6 percent, with approximately the same rate for both sexes. Bulgaria traditionally has had high educational standards. In the post-communist era, low funding and low teacher morale have damaged the system somewhat, particularly in vocational training. Adherence to classical teaching methods has handicapped development in some technical fields. The current system of primary and secondary education, introduced in 1998, has 12 grades, in which attendance is compulsory from age seven through age 16. In 1998 enrollment in the primary grades was 93 percent of eligible students, and enrollment in the secondary grades was 81 percent of eligible students. The ratio of females to males in primary schools was 0.97, and the ratio in secondary schools was 0.98. Because of Bulgaria’s low birthrate, total primary- and secondary-school enrollment has decreased in the post-communist era, causing reductions in teaching staff and facilities. At the same time, the number of private schools increased by 10 times during the 1990s.
Bulgaria’s higher education system was fully reorganized in the mid-1990s. Between 1995 and 2002, the number of university graduates increased from 33,000 to 50,000. In 2002 some 42 institutions of higher learning were in operation, and 215,700 students were enrolled. In 2003 some 4.9 percent of Bulgaria’s national budget was devoted to education.
Health: Bulgaria began overall reform of its antiquated health system, inherited from the communist era, only in 1999. In the 1990s, private medical practices expanded somewhat, but most Bulgarians relied on communist-era public clinics while paying high prices for special care. During that period, national health indicators generally worsened as economic crises substantially decreased health funding. The subsequent health reform program has introduced mandatory employee health insurance through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), which since 2000 has paid primary health costs. Private health insurance does not exist. A goal for 2005 was to place the entire health system under the NHIF. The system also has been decentralized by making municipalities responsible for their own health care facilities, and by 2005 most primary care came from private physicians. Pharmaceutical distribution also was decentralized.
In the early 2000s, the hospital system was reduced substantially to limit reliance on hospitals for routine care. Between 2002 and 2003, the number of hospital beds was reduced by 56 percent to 24,300. Anticipated membership in the European Union (2007) was a major motivation for this trend. Between 2002 and 2004, health care expenditures in the national budget increased from 3.8 percent to 4.3 percent, with the NHIF accounting for more than 60 percent of annual expenditures.
In the 1990s, the quality of medical research and training decreased seriously because of low funding. In the early 2000s, the emphasis of medical and paramedical training, which was conducted in five medical schools, was preparation of primary care personnel to overcome shortages resulting from the communist system’s long-term emphasis on training specialists. In the early 2000s, experts considered that Bulgaria had an adequate supply of doctors but a shortage of other medical personnel. In 2000 Bulgaria had 3.4 doctors, 3.9 nurses, and 0.5 midwives per 1,000 population.
In the early 2000s, the major natural causes of death were cardiovascular disease (most commonly manifested in strokes), cancer, and respiratory illness. Bulgaria has had a very low incidence rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In 2003 its estimated rate was less than 0.1 percent of the population, with fewer than 500 cases reported. However, in the early 2000s the number of new case reports increased annually.
Welfare: According to a Bulgarian poll, the number of Bulgarians living in poverty decreased by 50 percent between 1999 and 2005, as the effects of the economic crisis of 1997 dissipated. In 2003 that number was estimated at 13 percent of the population. The poverty rate, still substantially higher than in the last communist years, is highest in rural and northern areas. In 1999 some 80 percent of the rural population was estimated to live in poverty. Human rights organizations have criticized the failure of the social service system to aid homeless individuals, particularly children and minorities such as the Roma.
In 2000 Bulgaria began a large-scale reform of its pension and social services programs, which until that time had been state-run and state-subsidized. That reform established a comprehensive pension insurance system in which participation is obligatory for all employers and employed and self-employed persons born after 1959. Workers also can contribute to supplementary funds. By 2002 some nine pension insurance companies were operating, as Bulgaria’s aging population made this aspect of social services more critical. Employees make their mandatory pension contributions into one of the funds. In 2004 some 2 million people were in the pension system, of whom 500,000 made additional voluntary contributions. The system is hampered by a very low ratio of contributing workers to pension recipients—less than one-to-one—and by Bulgaria’s very large gray economy, in which pension contributions are not enforceable. The system provides funds for regular retirement, worker disability, temporary incapacity, unemployment, pregnancy and childbirth, and death.