Vietnamese people in Bulgaria
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| c. 2,600 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Sofia, Plovdiv, Dimitrovgrad and Varna | |
| Languages | |
| Vietnamese, Bulgarian | |
| Religion | |
| Mahayana Buddhism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Vietnamese people |
Vietnamese people (Bulgarian: виетнамци, vietnamtsi) form the small immigrant community of Overseas Vietnamese in Bulgaria today, but their numbers were much higher in the 1980s. As of 2015, the Vietnamese community in Bulgaria numbers 2,600, including Bulgarian residents and/or citizens. They mainly live in the capital Sofia, but also in Plovdiv, Dimitrovgrad and Varna . Many Vietnamese people also live in Kozloduy.
The Vietnamese diaspora in Bulgaria dates to the 1960s. In 1950, Bulgaria and Vietnam had established diplomatic relations and signed a mutual agreement to co-operate in cultural and educational affairs. As a result, the first Vietnamese students arrived in Bulgaria in 1960. The main subjects that the Vietnamese came to study were agriculture, economics, tourism, humanities, arts, medicine and construction.
According to an international agreement of 1980, Bulgaria, along with other Comecon members such as East Germany, Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union, accepted Vietnamese guest workers in the country as a relatively cheaper manual labour workforce. According to one estimate, over 35,000 Vietnamese people have worked in Bulgaria between 1980 and 1991, and 5,000 Vietnamese students have completed their higher education in various Bulgarian universities.Plattenbauten (панелка; panelka) and mobile home hostels were built in 1984 in the Krasna polyana municipality of Sofia to accommodate the Vietnamese; by 1990, the area had acquired the nickname "Little Saigon". The hostels are still known as "the Vietnamese hostels" today, although their demolition has been considered by the Capital Municipality as they have since decayed into an unregulated Roma-inhabited slum.
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Wikipedia