Bulgaria Tops EU List of Countries with Rural Exodus

Population in Bulgaria's rural areas has followed a trend of constant decline. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Bulgaria is among the EU countries with largest depopulation of rural areas (-13.2‰ in 2011), while the largest share of people lives in suburban (intermediate) areas.

The figures were published by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union, and are based on a new urban/rural typology developed by the European Commission. The regions are classified as rural, intermediate and urban based on an analysis of population density and total population.

By January 1, 2011, 17% of Bulgarians lived in urban areas, 45% in intermediate areas and 38% in rural areas. Bulgaria ranks 3th in the EU by the share of people, who live in intermediate areas, after Sweden (56%), and Estonia (52%).

Urban population in Bulgaria has increased by 7.7‰, while the one in intermediate and rural areas went down by 8.9 ‰ and 13.2 ‰, respectively,

On 1 January 2011, 41% of the population of the EU27 lived in urban regions, 35% in intermediate regions and 23% in rural regions. The largest shares of the population living in rural areas were registered in Ireland (73%), Slovakia (50%), Estonia (48%) and Hungary (47%). The largest shares of the population living in urban regions were recorded in Malta (100% of the population), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 71%) and Belgium (68%).

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