EU report highlights Bulgaria's shrinking and ageing population

Bulgaria is among the European Union countries facing a sustained population decline, according to a European Commission report published on Tuesday. Similar demographic trends have been identified in Romania, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, eastern parts of Poland and Germany, southern Italy and rural areas of the Iberian Peninsula.

The report also points to the country's rapidly ageing population. Bulgaria's median age rose to 47 last year from 43 a decade earlier.

Long-term care workers in Bulgaria, Italy and Estonia are among the lowest paid in the EU, earning only around 65% of the national average wage, the report says. In about half of EU member states, they earn less than 80% of the average wage.

The report projects that life expectancy in Bulgaria will reach 90 years by 2100.

Editor: Diana Tsankova