site.btaOne in Four Bulgarians Wants to Migrate to Another Country

One in four Bulgarians is willing to migrate to another country if they had all the necessary paperwork, a global Gallup International opinion poll shows. Two in three Bulgarians said that they prefer to stay here, while 8% cannot decide.

The opinion poll was conducted in 57 countries among 54,329 people. In each country a representative sample of around 1,000 men and women was interviewed between August and October 2022.

Contrary to the popular notion here, only 25% of Bulgarians would like to live abroad, which is lower compared to some neighbouring countries, including Greece with 40%, Romania with 38%, and Northern Macedonia with 42%. In terms of percentage, Bulgaria is closer to countries like Spain with 27%, The Netherlands with 29%, Sweden and Austria both with 23%.

The poll offers a partial explanation with the continuous migration towards Western Europe and North America that started in the 90s. The conclusion is: "Whoever wanted to live abroad has already left Bulgaria".

In the last few years there has been a slight change in the migration trend here - although the levels of desire for travelling abroad to study, develop, earn a better qualification and better income are still high, Bulgarians are less willing to permanently migrate to another country.

The attitude of Bulgarians is in line with the attitude of average EU citizens, where one in three is willing to migrate to another country. Close to 60% of Europeans prefer to stay in their current country.