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Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

bbc.com

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Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#91

Post by wil421 »

tbojanin wrote: post #19
moltar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the tech salaries like in Bulgaria?

My cousin is in his 20's, roughly makes 10,000/ month (~ $5600 USD). That salary is absolutely amazing. The article states the minimum monthly salary is $320 ( which a large amount of people make, given that Bulgaria lacks a middle class). The reason he stays in Bulgaria is because of that, he wanted to come join me in the US, but he didn't want to emigrate. edit: mrtksn's comment hits the nail on top of the head.

That’s an insane salary for Eastern Europe. I worked with people in the Balkans who grossed that much a year.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#92

Post by Iwan-Zotow »

_hao wrote: post #12

As a Bulgarian living and working in London for more than a year now, I have no intention of going back. The IT sector in the country is booming and the money you can make relative to the cost of living is insane - you can live like a king. To me that is not enough. Money are not enough to make me go back, even though I miss my friends and family. One of the biggest problems for me is that the country is stuck in thi…

> and Russian influence

wtf are you talking about?

you are in EU and NATO, what is the problem?

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#93

Post by marsRoverDev »

tbojanin wrote: post #19
moltar wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the tech salaries like in Bulgaria?

My cousin is in his 20's, roughly makes 10,000/ month (~ $5600 USD). That salary is absolutely amazing. The article states the minimum monthly salary is $320 ( which a large amount of people make, given that Bulgaria lacks a middle class). The reason he stays in Bulgaria is because of that, he wanted to come join me in the US, but he didn't want to emigrate. edit: mrtksn's comment hits the nail on top of the head.

Which company pays this in Sofia? VMWare? My company has engineers in bulgaria but they don't make that kind of money (still good money, but not $5.6k good).

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#94

Post by Iwan-Zotow »

kfk wrote: post #22

Random facts from living 3 months there on why this could be a high potential country: * 10% income tax (second lowest in EU), 5% dividend tax * Very low costs of living (rent is 300-400 eur for a flat in Sofia) * Relatively easy to start companies * It's quite safe, at least safer than Naples from where I am from * Very good quality of food * Close to the seaside (about 3 hours from Greek coast also) * Nice summers…

YOu forgot about another random fact - gypsies

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#96

Post by icebraining »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #46
namarie wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So there are no good systems of government then.

The Roman empire lasted a pretty darn long time even with a lot of mediocre leadership. Various flavors of representative democracy seem to weather crappy leaders pretty well.

"Lasted" is a pretty weak standard. The Roman empire changed quite dramatically over time, probably more than Bulgaria or Albania.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#97

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

ovi256 wrote: post #2

Its neighbour to the north, Romania, may be in a similar situation, for the same reasons. It lost 6 million people since 1990, with several million each living in Spain and Italy.

I would claim, however, that Romania is in a distinctly better state than Bulgaria. I can only speak for Transylvania, but after the big exodus towards Western Europe which involved most of my own friends, there has now been a wave of people moving back. Salaries in Cluj or Timisoara are now growing high enough that people can settle for them if they see other benefits to coming back to Romania.

The possibility of living comfortably in a peaceful rural environment is also a big attraction of Romania, and I moved out to the country myself a few years ago. In addition to cheap property in villages, there is often gigabit internet as well, which makes these places even more appealing for knowledge workers and people who consume a lot of content. The shopping in rural areas, and the availability of "hipster foodstuffs" there, also seems much better than in a lot of Bulgaria.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#98

Post by probono322 »

Bulgarian here, studied and lived abroad, now back to Sofia.

The answer to the question "why this is the case" is...it makes sense a lot of sense. Bulgaria joined EU in 2007 and right after that the crisis hit Europe and the world. Wages at that time were probably 25% of the average in EU, suddenly no restrictions to move (that's the point of Europe right?), people wanted to try how it is because they've only heard and read how much better it is, some people took loans before the crisis, etc. But it's the same reason why people from East Germany move to West Germany, or from poorer states in US to California..

That said, I believe it's a good place to work and live and I claim it's reversing the trend slowly. I can bet there are more people coming for the IT/engineering jobs than leaving nowadays, many foreigners living in the big cities, you can afford to buy an appartment in 5 years, go to ski in Bansko and to Greece/Croatia/Black Sea for the summer. Income tax is at 10%, food is good, there is interesting companies, VC and acquisitions. Unemployment rate is 4-5% and if you're halfway capable you can get a job in no time.

Re: Bulgaria is the world’s fastest-shrinking country

#100

Post by Iwan-Zotow »

mihaifm wrote: post #20
paganel wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Am Romanian, I entered the comment section to say the same thing. More than half my friends and work acquaintances from the last 10-15 years have moved abroad.

Just wondering if there is any solution to this. If you incentivise people (financially) to return, you discriminate against the local population. You can try to slow down emigration by building up the economy, but the wage differences are still so large compared to Western Europe that you couldn't stop emigration entirely. It's a tough problem to solve.

there is nothing to solve, Bulgaria is demographically dead, nothing to see, move along, mind the gap...
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