" ;Demographic deserts are territories with a population of less than 10 people per square kilometer and their growth in Bulgaria, due to the demographic crisis in which the country is, is of particular concern due to the fact that the territory of these demographic deserts is growing twice as fast than the rate of decrease of the Bulgarian population“.
This was said by Prof. Nikolay Tsekov, specialist in Regional Demography at the Institute for Population and Human Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. He presented his presentation related to the monitoring of the expansion of depopulation nuclei in Bulgaria for the period 2001-2021, within the press conference "Is Bulgaria turning into a demographic desert?".
According to Prof. Tsekov, huge territories in the country have already been abandoned, the people in them are gradually dying out. He explained that the main reasons for this are advanced biological aging, lack of birth rate in some settlements, emphasizing that there are areas where not a single child has been born in the last 30 years.
In response to a journalist's question, Associate Professor Nikolay Tsekov noted that the regions most affected by depopulation are Western and Northwestern Bulgaria, the Strandzha-Sakar region, the Central Balkans, the cities of Gabrovo and Lovech.
According to him, the fact that even in areas defined as extremely promising for agricultural production, such as the Dobrich region, for example, are among the fastest growing regions in terms of the number and territory of depopulated town halls is particularly worrying.
>“People find no prospect to stay, even if there are young ones; enthusiasts in organic agriculture, in mountain and rural tourism’’, Tsekov added.
“If these rates of growth of depopulation in rural areas continue, we will end up with overpopulation in some centers of Bulgaria, without enough kindergartens, cities overcrowded with cars, with huge parts left to fate, depopulated, losing permanent population and resources, with devaluation of their economic and economic assets, lack of interest of investors who cannot find labor in these parts”, emphasized the regional demography specialist.
He explained that to deal with the problem of growing demographic deserts, information must first be collected on all town halls that are in danger of being completely depopulated; data on their agricultural funds that can be used; for their forest resources; for their attractiveness in terms of rural tourism, and the development of biofarms or mineral resources. In this way, it will be possible to lay some basis for the economic revival of the affected regions.
“It is necessary to look for investors and settlers, but before that to develop in several areas “model‘‘ settlements with a view to attracting people to live there”, Prof. Tsekov concluded.
“It all depends on the quality of life. When people have a low quality of life and one that is worse compared to the quality of life in other nearby areas, it is natural to look for options for a better life. This makes them migrate to better settlements, with more services in health care, education, and to areas with more job opportunities, Assoc. Cherkezova, who is part of the Department of Demography, commented to journalists. /p>
“In the period around the COVID-19 pandemic, the so-called “return migration‘‘ – from the cities to the villages, but these are short-term waves for which we have no information about whether they will turn into trends, Assoc. Stoyanka Cherkezova noted.
She added that the availability of more job opportunities; fast and convenient transportation; services that enable better child rearing and effective health maintenance can attract people to the resulting demographic deserts. She emphasized that the presence of territorial imbalances also gives rise to serious social inequalities.