Current trends in the demographic development of municipalities in Bulgaria
Current trends in the demographic development of municipalities in Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: For more than three decades depopulation and ageing have been the main trends in the demographic development of Bulgaria at both national and regional levels. In the regional aspect, however, the emergence and deepening of the processes of depopulation and demographic ageing in many settlements and entire municipalities have been observed since the 1930s, as is the case with rural depopulation in North-western Bulgaria. Along with the analysis of the current demographic development of Bulgarian municipalities, it is clearly emphasized that depopulation and ageing are not temporary crisis phenomena in the country’s demographic development, but are key indicators of a long and irreversible transition. Its main result is the replacement of the relatively populous generations of the post-war baby-boom era with constantly shrinking and ageing populations. The subject of the study is the tracking of the spatial connections and dependencies between the indicators for the demographic structures and processes. The balance formed on their basis between natural and mechanical growth is one of the main indicators of the current demographic change. The task is to reveal key patterns between the studied factor and result characteristics, which outline the picture of the deepening demographic and socio-economic inequalities in the development of the 265 municipalities in the country during the first two decades of this century.

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