Press releases

The total energy supply from renewables in the country decreased by 5.79% to 2 746.425 thousand tons of oil equivalent in 2022 compared to the previous year 2021.

The final energy consumption of renewables in the country showed a slight decrease - by 0.20% to 1 467.228 thousand tons of oil equivalent in 2022 compared to the previous year. Household sector has the largest share in final energy consumption, which in 2022 is 44.55% or 653.664 thousand tons of oil equivalent.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Energy', Renewables.

The net heat production from district heating systems in the country decreased by 4.3% to 27 664 terajoules in 2022 compared to the previous year 2021.

CHP units using non-renewable fuels have the largest share of net heat production from district heating systems - 74.7% or 20 663 terajoules in 2022.

District heating and cooling systems are systems that supply heat in the form of steam, hot water, or chilled liquid through a network from a central production source to multiple buildings or industrial sites to heat or cool premises or processes. Currently, there are no district cooling systems in the country, data are published only for district heating systems.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Energy', District heating and cooling systems.

In 2022, the production of high-efficiency electricity from CHP units in the country decreased by 10.22% to 3 285 gigawatt hours compared to the previous year 2021. Steam condensing turbines with an efficiency above 80% have the largest share in the combined production of high-efficiency electricity, which in 2022 is 35.22% or 1 157 gigawatt hours.

CHP units are thermal installations in which the energy released from the fuel is transmitted to an intermediate fluid. This intermediate fluid is normally directed in its entirety to electrical generator sets, designed and equipped in such a way that energy is partly used for driving the generator sets to produce electrical energy and partly to supply heat for various purposes: industrial uses, district heating, etc. The unit is considered as CHP, if there is simultaneous production of useful heat and mechanical energy.

The data are representative at the national level. They are compared with the Decisions of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (EWRC) on the issuance of certificates of origin for electricity produced from combined production of electricity and heat. The data in the whole time series have been calculated by one methodology and are fully comparable.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Energy', Combined heat and power units (CHP units).

In October 2023, the total consumer confidence indicator increases by 3.3 percentage points in comparison with July (from -25.5% to -22.2%), as for the urban population the increase is 0.5 percentage points and for the rural population - 9.8 percentage points.

In the third quarter of 2023, the municipal authorities issued building permits for the construction of 2 107 residential buildings with 9 805 dwellings, 25 administrative buildings/offices and 1 253 other buildings.

The issued building permits for new residential buildings fewer by 2.4% as compared to the third quarter of 2022. The issued building permits for administrative buildings and other buildings have shown an increase by 78.6% and 3.3% respectively.

The construction of 1 528 residential buildings with 7 576 dwellings, 17 administrative buildings/offices and 618 other buildings was started.

As compared to the third quarter of 2022, the number of started new residential buildings and other buildings decreased by 2.0% and 7.6% respectively. The number of started administrative buildings increased by 54.5%.

In September 2023, revenues of the subsector ‘Central Govermnent’ were reported in the amount of BGN 3 836.52  million and expenses – BGN 4 474.45  million, and for the subsector ‘Social Security Funds’ the revenues amounted to BGN 2 558.87  million, and the costs are BGN 2 447.90  million.

The data of the ‘Central Government’ subsector are formed on the basis of the monthly cash statements of the budget units, as well as estimates of the state enterprises reclassified in the subsector, and the data of the ‘Social Security Funds’ subsector - on the basis of the monthly cash statements of the National Insurance Institute and the National Health Insurance Fund.

The information is published on the basis of Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/85 of the EU.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Government Finance Statistics'.

The data for the second quarter of 2023 have been published for revenues, expenses and deficit/surplus of the ‘General Government’ sector by sub-sectors: sub-sector ‘Central Government’, sub-sector ‘Local Government’ and sub-sector ‘Social Insurance Funds’, in accordance with Article 3(2) of Directive 2011/85 of the EU. The data are based on cash reports and trial balances on accrual basis of the budgetary units, as well as quarterly data on the public enterprises reclassified in the sector.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Government Finance Statistics'.

In 2022, the total amount of expenditure on research and development activity (R&D) was 1 265.6 million BGN, which was 17.8% more than the previous year. The annual growth tendency is retained for the period 2018 - 2022. 

R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of the gross domestic product) amounted to 0.75% and it was 0.02 percentage points lower than in 2021.

Regarding R&D expenditure by fields of science in 2022, as in the previous year, the highest share belonged to the R&D expenditure in technical sciences - 50.5% (638.6 million BGN), followed by medical and health sciences with a share of 20.5% (259.3 million BGN) and the natural sciences - 17.2% (217.1 million BGN).

In 2022, the personnel engaged in research and development activity amounted to 27 090 persons (in full-time equivalent), which was 7.8% more than the previous year. The share of women in total R&D personnel was 47.1%. The number of researchers in full-time equivalent was 17 487 persons, which was 7.7% more compared to 2021.

Data on Annual financial accounts by institutional sectors for 2022 has been published.

The Annual national financial accounts for Bulgaria are compiled in compliance with the requirements of the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA) 2010.

Data on Annual financial accounts includes assets and liabilities for stocks and transactions of financial instruments, broken down by institutional sectors of the economy, as well as balancing items - Financial net worth and Net financial transactions.

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Financial national accounts'.

Data on Taxes and social contributions as part of the General Government sector for 2022 has been published. They are classified in the following main categories: taxes on production and imports, taxes on income and wealth, taxes on capital and Social security contributions. The indicators are presented in accordance with the ESA 2010 and the transmission programme. They include detailed descriptions of the taxes and social security contributions which form the income of General Government sector and its sub-sectors (Central Government, Local Government and social security) and the institutions of the EU (S.212).

Detailed data can be found on the NSI website under the heading 'Government Finance Statistics'.