Bulgaria's population is to drop from 7.4 million now to 5.85 million in 2060, and the population aged 65 or over will account for 34 per cent of the total, according to a Eurostat projection about the demographic trends in Europe in the next 50 years released in Brussels on Tuesday.

The population of the EU27 is projected to rise gradually from 495.4 million in 2008, reaching 520.7 million in 2035 and thereafter gradually declining to reach 505.7 million on January 1, 2060, BTA reports.

From 2015 onwards, births will not outnumber deaths and hence population growth due to natural increase will cease. For this reason positive net migration will be the only population growth factor, Eurostat said.

The data are released to help the EU countries draw the necessary conclusions because demographic processes have an extremely serious direct impact on public expenditure, on the social security systems and on the countries' economy in general, said EU Spokeswoman Amelia Torres, who presented the data. She explained that Eurostat's demographic projections were prepared jointly with demographic experts of the EU member countries.

Regarding Bulgaria's neighbors, Greece will maintain its current population number of about 11.2 million in 2060, while Romania will have a population of 16.9 million after losing about 5 million people.

In 50 years, Britain will be the most populous EU country with nearly 76.7 million people, up from 61.27 million now. It will outnumber Germany's population, which will lose some 11.5 million people from 82.7 million now.