Bulgaria Ranks 16th in EU by Population

90% of births in Bulgaria are of women between the ages of 15 and 34 and in 2010 these births were down by 11.4%, compared to 2001. File photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria ranks 16th among the 27 European Union Member States by its population, according to the National Statistics Institute, NSI.

Magdalena Kostova, from NSI, cited by Darik radio, informed Wednesday that 1% of all people in Europe have Bulgarian citizenship.

17.5% of Bulgarians live in the capital Sofia, while 1/3 of the entire population reside in the country's seven largest cities.

The demographic ageing of the population is ongoing and is expressed by the reduction of the relative share of those under the age of 15 and the increase of the relative share of those 65 and older.

In the 1992 – 2011 period, due to exodus abroad, Bulgaria's population has gone down by nearly 400 000 people, or 35.4% of the total decrease of the population during these years.

The number of women in fertile age is down from 2 068 in 1990 to 1 907 in 2001, and 1 757 in 2010. 90% of the births are of women between the ages of 15 and 34 and in 2010 these births were down by 11.4%, compared to 2001, and by 16%, compared to 1997.

The relative share of women between the ages of 20 and 29 giving birth is also going down while the one of those between the ages of 30 and 39 is up.

There is an alarming trend of increased births of girls under the age of 15 – their relative share is up to 0.5% in 2010, compared to 0.1% in 1960.

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