According to data of the National Statistical Institute, sixteen percent of the Bulgarians who left this country last year headed for Germany. Spain is the second most preferred destination with 12 percent of the Bulgarian immigrants heading for this EU country last year. Italy attracted ten percent of the Bulgarian immigrants in 2008 and seven percent fled for the UK, France and Cyprus. Five or six percent of last year’s emigrants headed for Austria, Greece or Canada.

Last year, 2,112 Bulgarians officially declared their intentions to leave their home country and 1,236 foreigners applied for permanent residence in Bulgaria, most of them coming from France, Canada, Ukraine, Germany and the USA.

Migration authorities say the population of Bulgaria has decreased by 876 people in terms of immigration.
The statistical institute’s data also show that 49% of the Bulgarian immigrants have left their country to seek employment abroad and 17% have immigrated for educational purposes, while 21% are children or spouses of people leaving Bulgaria.
The majority of immigrants are between 20 and 29 years of age (28,5%). Those between 30 and 39 years of age make 22,8% of all immigrants and those between 40 and 49 years of age – 21,5%.

Last year, 123,000 Bulgarians migrated in the country, which is by 28,000 less than in 2007. The main flow of migration is from the small towns and villages to the big cities and municipal centers.