Adrian Nikolov

In a comprehensive analysis conducted by Institute for Market Economics (IME) Senior Economist Adrian Nikolov, Bulgaria's labor market is forecasted to face a severe shortage of skilled workers, potentially reaching half a million individuals within the next three to five years.

The average salary in the country exceeded BGN 1,000 in all regions. There are still small municipalities, with lower incomes and with a real danger of impoverishment of groups of the population. However, average incomes are still outpacing consumer price growth. The data are from the Institute for Market Economy.

The pandemic melted 7 times the money that our compatriots abroad send to their relatives in Bulgaria. For the first 7 months of the year, they transferred only 98 million euros, according to BNB data. For comparison, in 2019 Bulgarians abroad sent home a record over 1 billion euros.

The most important result of the national census will be the number of the population, and certainly what we will see is a new correction downward due to the migration processes, Adrian Nikolov from the Institute for Market Economy told BNR.

According to him, the big risk is very low confidence in the census, which will mar the data from the survey.

Over the span of ten years - from 2009 to 2019 - the population of Sofia has increased by almost 80,000, economist Adrian Nikolov from the Institute for Market Economics said during an online presentation of an analysis of the economic and social development of the regions in southern Bulgaria.  

In the last ten years the regions of Gabrovo, Montana, Pleven, Lovech and Vratsa have lost almost a fifth of their population. Only Varna reports an increase in the number of people living there, but the growth is insignificant and is rather explained by the preservation of parity and keeping the human resource.

The pandemic brings the regions of Bulgaria closer together being part of the crisis in itself. It very disproportionately affected the leading economic centers and in this sense the gap was bridged. Of course, when we return to the moment of recovery, the gap will reopen, because the regions with the greatest growth potential are hit hardest.