site.btaBulgaria's Population is 7,050,034 at End-2017

Sofia, April 13 (BTA) - Bulgaria's population was 7,050,034 as at December 31, 2017, accounting for 1.4% of the population of the European Union, the National Statistical Institute reported on April 12. Compared with 2016, the country's population decreased by 51,825 people (0.7%).

As at December 31, 2017, Bulgaria had 3,422,409 men (48.5% of the total population) and 3,627,625 women (51.5%). This means that there were 1,060 women to every 1,000 men. In the age groups up to 53 years, men were more numerous than women. The number of women and their share in the total population increased as age went up.

The Bulgarian population continues to age. At the end of 2017, there were 1,481,908 people aged 65 and over, making up 21% of the population. Their share rose by 0.3 percentage points compared with 2016 and 4.1 percentage points compared with 2001. Population aging was more notable among women than among men.

Working-age Bulgarians decreased by almost 56,000 people (1.3%) as at December 31, 2017 compared with 2016. There were 1,736,000 people over working age (24.6% of the population) and 1,066,000 people under working age (15.1%).

Also at December 31, 2017, there were 5,256 settlements in Bulgaria, including 257 urban settlements (cities and towns) and 4,999 rural ones (villages). There were 162 settlements with zero population; the largest numbers of these were in the regions of Gabrovo, Veliko Turnovo, and Kurdjali.

Only two of the country's 28 administrative regions saw a population increase in 2017 against 2016. One of them was Sofia City (which is a region in its own right), where the population went up by 0.1%, and the other one was Kurdjali, where the population rose by 0.2%. All other regions experienced a population decline, most notably Vidin (2.2%) and Smolyan (2.0%).

A total of 64,359 child births, including 63,955 live births (99.4%), were registered in Bulgaria in 2017. Live births dropped by 1,029 (1.6%) compared with 2016. As at December 31, 2017, the country had 1,517,000 women of childbearing age, down by about 22,000 from 2016 and down by almost 133,000 from 2011.

In 2017, a total of 3,251 children were born by mothers under 18 years of age. The number of infants born by women aged 40 and over continued to rise, reaching 2,108 in 2017 compared with 1,947 in 2016. The average maternal age at first childbirth rose from 27 years in 2016 to 27.1 years in 2017. Births out of wedlock, which have been increasing steadily since 1991, reached 37,935 in 2017, accounting for 58.9% of all births.

A total of 109,791 Bulgarians died in 2017, increasing by 2,211 (2.1%) from 2016. The overall mortality rate remained very high. It was highest in the regions of Vidin, Montana, and Lovech.

Between 2015 and 2017, the average life expectancy at birth was 74.8 years, rising by 0.1 years compared with 2014 to 2016. For men, life expectancy at birth was 71.3 years, and for women, it was 78.4 years. The average life expectancy in urban settlements (75.6 years) was 2.8 years higher than in rural settlements (72.8 years).

In 2017, there were 113,471 internal migrants in Bulgaria who moved from one settlement to another. The most common internal migration pattern was town-to-town. The largest numbers of internal migrants who moved to Sofia City came from Sofia Region and the regions of Blagoevgrad and Plovdiv, and the smallest numbers came from Turgovishte and Razgrad.

In 2017, a total of 31,586 people whose current address was in Bulgaria switched to an address abroad. Men accounted for 50.8% of the total. Half of all emigrants were aged between 20 and 39. The most popular emigration destinations were Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Migration also went the other way: 25,597 people habitually residing abroad switched to a residence in Bulgaria. Some 36.2% of them were between 20 and 39 years old, and 27.0% were between 40 and 59. The largest numbers of immigrants came from Turkey, Russia, and Germany.

The negative rate of natural increase (i.e. the excess of deaths over births) in 2017 caused Bulgaria's population to dwindle by 45,836 people.