The Institute for Market Economics (IME) presented its annual study Regional Profiles 2020 – a large-scale review and latest data on 64 social and economic indicators of the 28 Bulgarian regions. This is the ninth consecutive edition of the study, and, reasonably, this year, the focus is on the labor market and the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

Regional Profiles 2020: Sofia Overview 

Sofia is the region with the highest gross domestic product per capita and the highest salaries and incomes. The city has the most favorable demographic situation in the country, leads in education, and holds a record level of unemployment rates. The city ranks low only in terms of taxes and security and justice.

Sofia’s administration is rated as the most transparent in the country – the city’s rating for active transparency reaches 78.8% (compared to 70.7% for the country). Sofia has also received the highest rating in Level of development of local government e-services and Level of development of one-stop shop services – 4 out of 5 possible, thus maintaining its leading position.

The share of households with high-speed internet access keeps increasing and reaches 83% compared to 75% in the country.

Sofia is also a leader in terms of investment activity and holds the largest number of companies – 91 per 1,000 people compared to an average of 59 per 1,000 people in the country. Foreign direct investment is also significantly higher than the average for Bulgaria and reaches EUR 9,361 per capita. The production value is twice higher than the average for the country – BGN 50.4 thousand / person compared to BGN 25.9 thousand / person for Bulgaria.

IME presented its research during a life event on Facebook. You can find a recording of the broadcast here.

More data about Sofia and the other regions in the country are published on the Institute’s website, while detailed data about Sofia can be found in the document here.