At the end of 2006 the calculated resident population of Bulgaria was 7 679 290 persons. Compared to 2005 its number has decreased by 39 460 persons or 0.5% of total population. The decline is entirely due to the negative natural increase of the population, i.e. the significantly greater number of deaths compared to that of live births, reports NSI.

The relative share of females in the total population (51.5%) remains higher than that of males. In 2006 there were 1 064 females per 1 000 males.

The present population of cities is 5 425.3 thousand, or 70.6% of the Bulgarian population, and that of villages - 2 254.0 thousand or 29.4%.

The ageing of the population naturally leads to higher values of the mean age indicator. The mean age of the population in 2000 was 39.9 and 2005 - 41.2 years. In 2006 this indicator stood at 41.4 years. The process of ageing of the population takes place in both villages and cities, as the mean age in villages is higher than that in cities - 45.3 years in villages and 39.7 years in cities.

The tendency towards ageing of the population also results in changes in its age structure, namely the breakdown of the population by categories under, at and over working age. The breakdown of the population at working age and over working age is influenced by both ageing and the changes in legislation fixing the age limit for the population at pension age 2.

The population at working age at the end of 2006 was approximately 4 820 thousand persons or 62.8% of total population. In comparison with 2005 its significantly number increased by 6 thousand persons.

The population over working age in 2006 was 1 740 thousand persons. Over a period of year it has approximately decreased by 22 thousand persons. The decline is not only due to the natural movement of the population (mortality) but also to the exclusion from it of part of the population due to changes in the pension age limit.

A long-term tendency towards a decline has emerged among the population under working age. In comparison with 2005 this category of population has decreased by 23 thousand persons, and by the end of 2006 it numbered 1 120 thousand persons.

During the 2006 74 495 children were born in Bulgaria, of which 73 978 (99.3%) were live-born. Compared to the preceding year the number of live-born children has increased by 2 903. The crude birth rate (the number of live-born children per 1 000 persons of the average annual population) reaches - 9.6%.

In 2006 the number of live-born boys was 38 108 and the number of live-born girls was 35 870, or there were 1 000 boys to 941 girls.

The number of live-born children in cities was 55 043, and in villages was 18 935 children, or the crude birth rate was 10.1‰ in cities and 8.3% in villages.

The natality in Bulgaria is already at the level of the natality in number of Europe countries as Italy, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Poland and Switzerland. Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovenia have a lower natality - about and under 9.0‰. In most European countries the crude birth rate is above 10‰. Ireland and France have the highest birth rate in Europe, respectively - 14.7‰ and 12.9%.