Statistical data

In October 2024, 2 237 accommodation establishments - hotels, motels, camping sites, mountain chalets and other establishments for short-term accommodation, with 10 or more bed-places, functioned in the country with 70.3 thousand rooms and 148.5 thousand bed-places in them. In comparison with the same month of the previous year, the number of accommodation establishments increased by 0.2%, while the bed-places in them decreased by 1.4%.

The total number of nights spent was 1 081.1 thousand, or 1.4% more in comparison to a year earlier, and the number of arrivals in all accommodation establishments increased by 3.6% and reached 511.1 thousand.

The total revenues from nights spent reached 97.6 million BGN, or by 16.5% more compared to the same month of the previous year.

Since July 2024, NSI has started publishing Industrial Production Indices by base year 2021 = 100 in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council for European Business Statistics and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

The Industrial Production Index went down by 0.7% in October 2024 compared to the previous month. The data are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

In October 2024, compared to September 2024, a decline was seen in the mining and quarrying industry - by 22.9%, in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply - by 4.8%, while an increase was registered in the manufacturing - by 1.3%.

In comparison with October 2023, a decrease of 1.6% was reported in the calendar-adjusted Industrial Production Index.

On an annual basis, a decline of the Industrial Production Index was observed in the mining and quarrying industry - by 10.0%, and in the manufacturing - by 0.1%, while an increase was registered in the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply - by 7.9%.

Since July 2024, NSI has started publishing Construction Production Indices by base year 2021 = 100 in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council for European Business Statistics and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

In October 2024, the production index in the ‘Construction’ section increased by 0.1% compared to the previous month. An increase was seen in the building construction - by 1.2% and in the production of civil engineering - by 0.5%. Production of specialized construction activities decreased by 1.3%. The data are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

The calendar-adjusted data showed an increase of 6.3% in the construction production compared to the same month of 2023. Specialized construction activities rose by 8.9%, civil engineering - by 7.1%, and construction of buildings - by 3.5%.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 2.4% compared to the third quarter of 2023 and there was an increase of 0.6% compared to the second quarter of 2024 at seasonally adjusted data.

According to the preliminary data, GDP per person employed increased in real terms by 1.7% in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

The trend of annual growth of the relative share of households with internet access continued - in 2024, 92.1% of the households in Bulgaria had access to the global network at home. Their relative share increased by 3.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. 94.7% of the households living in urban areas had internet access and for those resided in rural areas the relative share was 84.3%.

81.9% of the individuals aged between 16 and 74 years used the internet every day or at least once a week at any location (home, work or other places), and the share of people who had never surfed the internet decreased to 9.3%.

The internet was used mostly for communication by the individuals as 71.4% of them carried out phone or video calls (using applications such as Viber, WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime, Messenger, Snapchat, Zoom, MS Teams, Webex), 65.0% participated in social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, etc.), and 64.9% used instant messaging (using applications such as Viber, WhatsApp, Messenger, Snapchat, Skype, Discord, Telegram).

In 2024, 96.4% of non-financial enterprises with 10 or more persons employed had internet access. Fixed internet connection was available in 89.2% of the enterprises and the maximum download speed in 54.1% was more than 100 Mbps.

The relative share of persons employed who had access to the internet increased to 43.4%, and 25.4% used portable devices with mobile internet connection for business purposes. 76.4% of the companies provided persons employed with remote access to information resources such as e-mail, documents of the enterprise, business applications or software.

Bulgarian enterprises using any Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology were 6.5%, with their relative share almost doubled compared to the previous year. The use of these technologies was most common among the companies with 250 or more persons employed - 20.2%.

Since July 2024, NSI has started publishing Turnover Indices in Retail trade by base year 2021 = 100 in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council for European Business Statistics and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

In October 2024, the turnover in ‘Retail trade, except motor vehicles and motorcycles’ at constant prices increased by 0.8% compared to the previous month. The data are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

Growth was reported in all big groups: ‘Retail sales of automotive fuel in specialised stores’ - by 3.0%, ‘Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco’ - by 1.1% and ‘Retail sales of non-food products (except fuel)’ - by 0.6%.

The trade turnover rose by 5.1% compared to October 2023 according to the calendar-adjusted data.

In October 2024, compared to the same month of 2023, an increase of the turnover was registered in ‘Retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco’ - by 10.9%, and in ‘Retail sales of non-food products (except fuel)’ - by 6.7%. А drop was reported in ‘Retail sales of automotive fuel in specialised stores’ - by 11.4%.

Since July 2024, NSI has started publishing Services Production Indices by base year 2021 = 100 in accordance with the requirements of Regulation (EU) 2019/2152 of the European Parliament and of the Council for European Business Statistics and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1197.

In September 2024, the total production index in Services of the business economy increased by 0.2% compared to the previous month. The data are preliminary and seasonally adjusted.

Compared to September 2023, a rise of 7.0% was registered in the calendar-adjusted index according to preliminary data.

In 2023, there were 14 850 hazardous events (disasters, accidents and crises), representing a 1.0% increase compared to the previous year. The highest relative share is occupied by fires resulting in material damage - 50.4%, followed by road traffic accidents with casualties - 47.2%. The number of human fatalities resulting from disasters, accidents and crises was 667, while injured individuals were 9 415.

The country experienced a total of 104 hazardous events for which a state of emergency was declared, marking an increase of 55 events compared to the previous year. The largest share of these disasters was related to floods, storms, severe winter conditions, and forest fires. Compared to 2022, the declared states of emergency due to floods rose by 62.5%, while those linked to forest fires increased by 85.7%.

According to NSI estimates, in 2023, expenditures for preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery from hazardous events in the “General Government” sector were BGN 850 977 thousand, or 0.46% of the country’s GDP.