site.btaStatistics: Over 314,000 Bulgarians Returned to Their Homeland in Last 40 Years

A total of 314,285 Bulgarian citizens declared that they had resided outside the country for more than one year in the period 1980-2021 and returned or arrived in the country during the same period. Most of them returned from the United Kingdom – 47,000, or 14.9%, followed by Germany – 41,000, or 13.1%, Spain – 27,000, or 8.7%, and Greece – 27,000, or 8.5% of those residing abroad, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said.

The data from Census 2021 is included in the new "Census 2021 Statistical Guide" published on the NSI website.

The census took place from September 7 to October 10 of 2021. The publication contains data on the main demographic, ethno-cultural, health and socio-economic characteristics of the population, on migration, and on the location of the workplace/school of employees/students.

As at September 7, 2021, the population of Bulgaria was 6,519,789. In the period between the two censuses, 2011-2021, the country's population decreased by 844,781 people, or by 11.5%.

The ethnic structure of the returning Bulgarian citizens is similar to the ethnic structure of the population - 84.5% of them have self-identified as Bulgarians, 9.6% as Turkish, and 2.3% as Roma.

The number of foreign citizens who arrived in the country during the monitoring period was 39,853. Citizens of European countries, 77.4%, and Asian countries, 17.8%, had the highest share of all foreigners who arrived in the country. Most of the foreigners have settled in Sofia, 33.4%, Varna, 13.8%, and Burgas, 11.5%.

A total of 395,690 people declared that they had changed their place of usual residence during the period 2011-2021.

Of them, 224,000 people, or 56.6% of all migrants, have changed their place of residence from one city to another within the country. The number of people who moved from cities to villages was 88,000, or 22.1%, followed by rural-urban migrants, 62,000, or 15.6%. The smallest is the relative share of migrants who changed their residence from one village to another, 22,000, or 5.7% of all migrated people.