Bulgaria’s Exiled Young Professionals Mull New Life Back Home

"This is Act One," he says, "No one knows how it is really going to play out."

Most of those who have returned in the wake of COVID-19 and who work in manual labour and agriculture will probably go abroad again, if they have not done so already, Boyadzhiev says. However, he adds, COVID is accelerating trends that were already present in Bulgaria before the pandemic.

The first was the return of some professionals. Today, there are more jobs for them in Bulgaria that pay more competitive wages than before. Many of these jobs did not exist when they left the country, not least because many of today's employers, both foreign and Bulgarian, only began operating in the country after it joined the EU in 2007.

When it comes to rural Bulgaria, though, the picture is mixed. Some areas have lost far more population than others and the poorest areas have very limited prospects of repopulation. This is because the reason why people left them in the first place - the lack of good jobs, especially - remains.

By contrast, villages and small towns close to Sofia, Plovdiv and a few other big cities, including those along the coast, are beginning to see a revival, as many people, like their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, seek bigger homes with access to open space - but still close to good schools, jobs and all the other amenities cities offer.

Villages in attractive and especially in mountainous regions are also seeing a revival, as those with the means buy homes or renovate old family properties. Anecdotal evidence suggests that some among older generations who have lived in Bulgaria's bigger cities are retiring to holiday homes in these villages or are moving there to work. Others have been spending extended amounts of time in these villages...

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