Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

MFA Report: Bulgarian expats estimated at around 3 million

About 2.8 million Bulgarians live outside Bulgaria. The report was provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the request of the National Assembly for up-to-date information on the size of the Bulgarian diaspora by country and location. 

Foreign Minister Nikolay Milkov pointed out in his report that Bulgarian citizens are not obliged to register at Bulgarian diplomatic missions abroad and that the MFA does not have accurate data on their number abroad, as many countries do not have official statistics.

However, unofficial data show that the largest diaspora is in Turkey - between 600 and 700 thousand Bulgarian citizens, followed by the UK - 389 270, the USA - 350 000, Spain - 215 000. Officially, 410 885 Bulgarians are registered in Germany and only 867 in Russia.

The 2021 census showed that just over 6.5 million people live in Bulgaria.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Vanya Grashkina-Mincheva

There is an increase in requests for recognition of student diplomas obtained abroad

Applications for recognition of higher education obtained abroad have doubled. This was announced by Vanya Grashkina-Mincheva, executive director of the National Center for Information and Documentation before a meeting of the parliamentary education..

published on 10/28/25 11:06 AM

President Rumen Radev meets with the Bulgarian community in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Protecting the rights and caring for Bulgarian communities abroad are fundamental to Bulgarian foreign policy, said Bulgarian President Rumen Radev at a meeting with the Bulgarian community in Riyadh . He answered the questions of Bulgarians working and..

published on 10/28/25 10:41 AM

Strong earthquake in western Turkey felt in southern Bulgaria

An earthquake with a 6.1 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Western Turkey at 22.48 hours last night. There were over 40 aftershocks after the earthquake. The epicenter was near the city of Sundargah in the Balıkesir province. In addition to..

published on 10/28/25 9:42 AM