Bulgarian diaspora

The Bulgarian diaspora includes ethnic Bulgarians living outside Bulgaria and immigrants from Bulgaria abroad.

The number of Bulgarians outside Bulgaria has sharply increased since 1989, following the collapse of the communism in Central and Eastern Europe. Over one million Bulgarians have left the country, either permanently or as temporary workforce, leading to a marked decline in its population. Many took advantage of the US green card lottery system (people applied for tickets, they did not purchase them). Also many Bulgarians immigrated to Canada using the advantage of the Canadian immigration point system for skilled workers. Others went across the European Union. In countries such as Greece and Spain many Bulgarians work and stay there intermittently while retaining Bulgaria as their permanent residence, especially after the country became an European Union member state in 2007.

Most of the causes for the spread of the post-1990s Bulgarian diaspora throughout the EU member states and Northern America (USA and Canada) have been related to work and education. Therefore, the majority of the emigrants have been allowed residence in other countries on skilled worker or student basis. That includes people of various skills - lower education workers (which usually deal with utilities and housekeeping) plumbers, construction workers, gardeners, handymen, maids, as well as a substantial amount of higher-education specialists - usually from the areas of engineering, computer science, chemistry and medicine.

The largest communities of the Bulgarian diaspora in the Western part of the European Union are in Spain, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy.

Other places that attracted Bulgarian immigration are Australia, New Zealand, South America (especially Argentina and Brazil), South Africa, and some expats in United Arab Emirates.

Distribution by country

Country	Bulgarian Citizens	Ethnic Bulgarians	Article
Turkey	500,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarian Turks in Turkey and Bulgarians in Turkey
Greece	300,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Greece
United States	300,000 (in 2011)[1]	95,588[2] 2010 US Census	Bulgarian Americans
Spain	250,000 (in 2011)[1]	150,878 (in 2011)[3]	Bulgarians in Spain
Germany	226,926 (in 2016)[4]		Bulgarians in Germany
United Kingdom	100,000 (in 2011)[1]	35,000 (in 2009)[5]	Bulgarians in the United Kingdom
Italy	100,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Italy
Canada	70,000 (in 2011)[1]	30,485 (by ancestry, 2011 Census)[6] (official data)	Bulgarian Canadians
Macedonia	50,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in the Republic of Macedonia
Cyprus	35,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Cyprus
Russia	32,265 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Russia
France	30,000 (in 2011)[1]	34,000 (in 2011)	Bulgarians in France
Moldova	20,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Moldova
South Africa	20,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in South Africa
Austria	18,481 (in 2014)[1]		Bulgarians in Austria
Belgium	18,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Belgium
Australia	15,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarian Australian
Portugal	15,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Portugal
Serbia	15,000 (in 2011)[1]	18,543 (2011) [7]	Bulgarians in Serbia
Poland	14,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Poland
Netherlands	12,340 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in the Netherlands
Israel	7,500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarian Jews in Israel
Switzerland	4,500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Switzerland
Denmark	4,200 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Denmark
Sweden	4,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Sweden
UAE	3,500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in UAE
Czech Republic	3,206 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Czechoslovakia and Bulgarians in Czech Republic
Ireland	3,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Ireland
New Zealand	3,000		Bulgarians in New Zealand
Hungary	2,800 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Hungary
Argentina	2,500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Argentina
Romania	2,000 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Romania
Norway	1,800 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Norway
Slovakia	1,800 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Slovakia
Slovenia	1,500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Slovenia
Syria	1,200 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Syria
Lebanon	1,000		Bulgarians in Lebanon
Jordan	1,000 (in 2011)[1]
State of Palestine	1,000 (in 2011)[1]
Finland	1,000 (in 2011)[1]
Uruguay		1,000 (in 2005)[8][9] to 2,000 persons (1998)[10]	Bulgarians in Uruguay
Latvia	921 (2011 est.)[11]
Luxembourg	800 (in 2011)[1]
Kuwait	700 (in 2011)[1]
Qatar	600 (in 2014)[12]
Mexico	500 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Mexico
Ukraine	420 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Ukraine
Japan	350 (in 2011)[1]
Morocco	312 (in 2011)[1]
Croatia	300 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Croatia
Brazil	277 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Brazil
China	256 (in 2011)[1]
Egypt	250 (in 2011)[1]
Nigeria	250 (in 2011)[1]
Indonesia	235 (in 2011)[1]
Algeria	200 (in 2011)[1]
Tunisia	200 (in 2011)[1]
Chile	200 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Chile
India	104 (in 2011)[1]
Belarus	100 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Belarus
Kosovo	100 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Kosovo
South Korea	100 (in 2011)[1]
Cuba	65 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Cuba
Yemen	60 (in 2011)[1]
Azerbaijan	50 (in 2011)[1]
Vietnam	50 (in 2011)[1]
Bosnia	44 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Bosnia
Armenia	30 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarian Armenians in Armenia
Albania	26 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Albania
Georgia	25 (in 2011)[1]
Montenegro	25 (in 2011)[1]
Iran	20 (in 2011)[1]
Kazakhstan	20 (in 2011)[1]		Bulgarians in Kazakhstan
Ethiopia	16 (in 2011)[1]
Pakistan	11 (in 2011)[1]
Uzbekistan	8 (in 2011)[1]	2,166 (in 1989 Soviet Census)[13]
Mongolia	6 (in 2011)[1]
Afghanistan	2 (in 2011)[1]
Nicaragua	50		Bulgarians in Nicaragua
TOTAL	2,009,718 - 2,012,218 ( Bulgaria: 7,364,570 (in 2011)[14] )

See also

• Bulgarians
• List of Bulgarians
• Bulgarian Americans
• Bulgarian Canadians
• Bulgarians in South America
• Bulgarian Australian
• Bulgarians in Serbia
• Banat Bulgarians
• Bessarabian Bulgarians
• Macedonian Bulgarians
• Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of the USA, Canada and Australia

References

1. Брой на българските граждани в чужбина (2011 г.) | www.EuroChicago.com - The Bulgarian Media Portal in Chicago
3. "National Institute of Statistics of Spain - 2011 Census" (PDF). ine.es. Retrieved 2011-05-23.
4. "Ausländische Bevölkerung. Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters." (in German). Statistisches Bundesamt. 2016. p. 37. Retrieved 2016-10-29.
5. "Estimated population resident in the United Kingdom, by foreign country of birth (Table 1.3)". Office for National Statistics. September 2009. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
6. Statistics Canada. "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Retrieved 11 February 2014.
7. "Serbian 2011 census".
8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2015-08-14.
9. "Внук на нашенски емигрант ни представя в Уругвай". monitor.bg.
10. "??????? ????? - Държавата се е "самоотстранила" от българския национален въпрос (отпечатване)". vestnikataka.com.
11. (Latvian) Latvijas iedzīvotāju sadalījums pēc nacionālā sastāva un valstiskās piederības
12. Qatar´s population by nationality - bq magazine
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-06. Retrieved 2015-12-02.
14. Национален статистически институт - Преброяване 2011

External links

• Data