site.btaSofia Forum to Look at Strategy, Measures for Addressing Bulgaria's Demographic Issues, Four Ministers Expected to Attend

A forum in Sofia Thursday will look into strategies and measures for addressing Bulgaria's demographic problems. Among the participants are expected to be the Ministers of Labour and Social Policy, Ivaylo Ivanov, of Economy, Petko Nikolov, of Education, Galin Tsokov, of Health, Galya Kondev, and Deputy Innovation and Growth Minister Georgi Angelov. 

The forum is titled The Demographic Future of Bulgaria - Investments in Technology, Infrastructure and Human Capital, and is organized by the Standard media group.  It will bring together mayors, representatives of business, trade unions, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, universities, NGOs, who will make their proposals for measures to end the negative demographic trends in the country.

The ambition of the discussion is to come up with a declaration calling on the MPs of the future Parliament to embrace demographic development as a strategic state priority and to prepare a national demographic strategy by the end of this year.

They will look into ways of addressing the social problems of low birth rate, high mortality rate, inadequate health and education conditions, and migration of young and educated people; the economic problems of low incomes, regional disparities and poor infrastructure. They will discuss measures to bring back Bulgarians from abroad and what would motivate young people to stay and build families and careers in their home country, its organizers say.  

A series of regional discussions will follow the Sofia forum in 2024, mostly in regions that are facing population decline and have below-average economic activity: Blagoevgrad, Smolyan, Pazardzhik, Kardzhali, Haskovo, Silistra, Dobrich, Targovishte, Razgrad, Shumen, Vidin, Montana.