Bloomberg

No. 4 Bulgaria

2010 Population: 7,542,000
Forecast 2050 Population: 5,894,000
Percent Decrease: 21.9 percent
2010 Population over age 65: 18 percent
Fertility Rate: 1.6
Net Migration Rate: -2

Last year, Bulgaria's population shrank by 0.6 percent year-on-year—the lowest decline since 1993—and the number of births was the highest since 1995, reported the Sofia Echo, an English-language newspaper. The population is nonetheless expected to decrease: Bulgarians continued to leave the country in 2009 (half the emigrants were aged from 20 to 39), the fertility rate remains low, the number of marriages is decreasing, and the country has one of the world's largest percentage of elderly residents.

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