Every year, thousands of Bulgarians leave to study in countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain. In its latest Education at a Glance report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) continues to describe Bulgaria as a “net sender” of students. The share of Bulgarian students studying abroad has increased—from 8% in 2015 to 12% this year.
It has been known for years that the majority of Bulgarian students choose to study in Western Europe, as confirmed by data from consultancy agencies. However, the OECD’s latest report placed not the Netherlands or Germany, but Turkey, at the top of the list. What lies behind these statistics, and who exactly are the Bulgarian students choosing our southern neighbour?
Western Europe remains the favourite among consultancy companies
According to the OECD report, Turkey is the preferred destination for 24% of Bulgarian students studying abroad. They number around 24,000 in total, of whom 5,700 have chosen Bulgaria’s southern neighbour. Turkey is followed in the report by the Netherlands (23%), Germany (21%), the United Kingdom (6%) and Austria (6%).
However, the experience of leading Bulgarian agencies for education abroad does not match this picture. The latest annual report by “Integral” confirms that the number of students studying abroad is growing, but according to its data, the Netherlands is the clear leader among Bulgarian students leaving the country. In 2026, 32% of those departing chose to continue their education there. Spain ranks second in the consultants’ data, with a 16% market share and a twofold increase in the number of young people leaving. Austria and Italy follow with 10% each, and Germany with 9%.
“Integral” states that over the past five years it has not had a single applicant who left and began their studies in Turkey with the agency’s assistance. At UNIFY, which also provides student counselling, several applications have been submitted to Turkish universities, but not one has resulted in an actual departure and the start of studies.
Nikolay Hristanov from “Integral” explains that this absence is mainly due to the agency’s profile, as it primarily assists with applications to English-language and European programmes. He adds that enquiries about English-language degree programmes in Turkey are extremely rare, while no assistance is offered at all for Turkish-language programmes.
It turns out that a significant proportion of Bulgarians who choose Turkish universities apply directly or use other channels to access the country’s education system.
Who are the Bulgarian students in Turkey?
Nevertheless, the question remains: how can Turkey be completely absent from one set of statistics while emerging as the leader in another? The explanation lies in the OECD’s methodology.
Turkey is among the countries that provided administrative data for the OECD report based on citizenship and passports, rather than on the country where students completed their secondary education.
The OECD explicitly notes that the reported share of 24% may primarily reflect people with dual Bulgarian and Turkish citizenship or long-term residents who completed their secondary education in Turkey and continued on to local universities. At the same time, the organisation emphasises that it does not have detailed administrative data to confirm what proportion of them are actually dual citizens. According to official data, around 350,000 Bulgarian dual citizens live in Turkey.
As for the demographic profile, data from the Istanbul Center for Political Research from 2024 highlight one distinctive feature among Bulgarian students in Turkey: while men predominate among student flows from a number of countries, women account for as much as 53% of Bulgarian students in Turkey.