site.btaGeographer Georgi Bardarov Highlights Bulgaria's Demographic Problems

Geographer and writer Georgi Bardarov believes that demography has a deferred effect on society inasmuch as what we do or fail to do today will have an impact in 15 years' time. An associate professor at Sofia University and a well-known public personality, Bardarov said on Thursday that Bulgaria is the only country in the world which has spent more than 30 years ranked among the three nations with the worst negative natural population growth. Bulgaria has the highest premature mortality rate in the world and the lowest average life expectancy in the European Union while at the same time having the oldest population, he said.

The scientist was presenting his report Demographic Risks and Challenges Facing Bulgaria, with which he has contributed to the (in?)Vincible Pandemics Report by PanEuropa Bulgaria. The presentation took place at Sofia University.

Bardarov said the situation he described was due to a decreasing birth rate, fast ageing of the population, soaring mortality, an acute deficit of active young people and drastic territorial population imbalances.

The birth rate may be decreasing, but it is perfectly normal at this point in history, he argued. He noted that Bulgaria and the whole developed world are in the last of four stages of demographic transition, when mortality is approximately equal to the birth rate and natural population growth is either zero or negative.

Bulgaria's problem lies in a drastic vertical demographic imbalance, Bardarov noted. Active young people in the country are too few as the population is statistically concentrated in the older age groups. This shortage of young people is bad in every way.

The professor has compiled a programme for "a demographic restart of Bulgaria". It identifies seven areas in which efforts should be made to reverse negative population trends: healthcare, education, career development, incomes, infrastructure, security and justice, and immigration policy.

Former deputy prime minister and former economy minister Nikolai Vassilev said the population issue should be a foremost concern of the nation and the government.

The discussion continued with a presentation of the (in?)Vincible Pandemics Report by PanEuropa Bulgaria.