Demographics of Bulgaria

Bulgarian demographic scale
Population	7 205 677 (31 December 2014)
Growth rate	-5.2 people/1,000 population (2013)
Birth rate	9.2 births/1,000 population (2013)
Death rate	14.4 deaths/1,000 population (2013)
Life expectancy	74.5 years (2013)
• male	71.0 years
• female	78.0 years
Fertility rate	1.48 children born/woman (2013)
Infant mortality rate	7.3 deaths/1,000 infants (2013)
Net migration rate	-0.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012)
0–14 years	13.2%
15–64 years	68.3%
65 and over	18.5% (2011)
At birth	1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15	1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years	0.97 male(s)/female
65 and over	0.68 male(s)/female
Nationality	noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian
Major ethnic	Bulgarian (84.8%)
Minor ethnic	Turkish (8.8%) Roma (4.9%) Other and unknown (1.5%)
Official	Bulgarian (85.2%)

The demography of the Republic of Bulgaria is monitored by the "" (National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria).

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Bulgaria, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Bulgaria has a high Human Development Index of 0.782, ranking 57th in the world in 2012 and holds the 38th position in Newsweek's rankings of the world's best countries to live in, measuring health, education, political environment and economic dynamism.

Various estimates have put Bulgaria's medieval population at 1.1 million in 700 AD and 2.6 million in 1365. The latest 2011 census, the population inhabiting Bulgaria is 7,364,570 in total. The peak was in 1989, the year when the borders opened after a half of a century of totalitarian regime, when the population numbered 9,009,018.

The following forecast for the future population is an official estimate of the National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria.

The censuses in 1880, 1887 and 1892 did not have a question on ethnic affiliation. The following table shows the ethnic composition of all Provinces of Bulgaria according to the 2011 census:

See also Languages of Bulgaria.

The 2001 census defines an ethnic group as a "community of people, related to each other by origin and language, and close to each other by mode of life and culture"; and one's mother tongue as "the language a person speaks best and usually uses for communication in the family (household)".

Bulgaria's traditional religion according to the constitution is the Orthodox Christianity, while Bulgaria is a secular state too. Since the last two censuses (2001 and 2011) provide widely divergent results, they are both shown in the table below. It is noteworthy that over a fifth of the population chose not to respond to this question in the 2011 census.

The results of the Bulgarian 2011 Census, in which the indication of answer regarding the question for confession was optional, are as follows:

The results of the Bulgarian 2001 Census by ethnic groups, the latest census in which the indication of identification(whether by confession or as irreligious) in the question for confession was obligatory, are as follows: