More than 33 000 Bulgarians Moved to Live in Villages in Past Year

According to the latest estimates of the Association of Bulgarian Villages, 33 536 people moved to live in the villages in the past year.

Thus, the positive trend for return to village life, which has been registered in the past four years, is maintained.

More than half of the people, who moved to the villages - 54 % were economically active and were aged between 18 and 45 years.

The share of the remaining people, who chose to move to the villages, consisted mainly of recently retired.

A total of 24 834 people moved out of the cities in 2014, while 8702 people moved between villages, shows the data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI).

The migration towards villages recorded a growth of nearly 25 % compared to 2013 and out of a total of 5072 villages, only 184 are abandoned.

There is also a new wave of heightened interest towards properties in the villages, Darik radio reports.

The interest is mainly towards the purchase of properties in villages in a radius of 25 kilometres from major towns.

The market of village properties is the most active in the districts of Burgas, Plovdiv, Blagoevgrad, Lovech and Veliko Tarnovo.

Another trend, which has been observed, is the return of Bulgarian emigrants from abroad, who would like to renovate their village properties as well as to invest into additional ones

There is also an increased interest in village properties on the southern Black Sea coast, mainly from Russian citizens.