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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

#231

Post by buboard »

eanthy wrote: post #38
_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…

How does the politics and whatever people are saying affect your day to day life though? If you can make 10k a month there and buy a flat for 15k, in a few years you don't even need to work anymore. Why would you not even consider living there? Maybe as the old saying: familiarity breeds contempt

It's easy to ignore politics and live as a tourist if you re an expat. Being a native, with native family / friends always drags you back into local / national politics - in general it's harder to disentangle yourself.

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

#232

Post by tzjmetron »

dimitar wrote: post #230

I'm living in Sofia and I wouldn't live anywhere else. I got a comfortable job in IT which makes me a outlier though. I pay around 20% of my income in taxes and national insurance funds, excluding VAT. I actually believe I should be taxed more, even thought I'm far from the 1%. My costs for housing, utilities and transportation are low. Entertainment is cheap and the cafe's and clubs are always full. I get to eat out…

Excellent point of view.

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

#233

Post by dimitar »

gdy wrote: post #166
chewyland wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is Russian influence. They continue to be locusts in EU countries and want everything to be bad and miserable and poor. Source, Canadian living in BG for 6 years.

That is a disgusting russophobia. You should be ashamed.

This is about the government, not the people. The Russian government is well known for intervening in the affairs of other ranging from invasion (Georgia, Ukraine), to corruption schemes and funding alt-right organizations.

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

#234

Post by gdy »

dimitar wrote: post #233
gdy wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a disgusting russophobia. You should be ashamed.

This is about the government, not the people. The Russian government is well known for intervening in the affairs of other ranging from invasion (Georgia, Ukraine), to corruption schemes and funding alt-right organizations.

Then that comment would've said so, but it hasn't.

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

#235

Post by gdy »

dimitar wrote: post #233
gdy wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is a disgusting russophobia. You should be ashamed.

This is about the government, not the people. The Russian government is well known for intervening in the affairs of other ranging from invasion (Georgia, Ukraine), to corruption schemes and funding alt-right organizations.

Besides, all that you have mentioned is hardly unique for Russian government.

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

#236

Post by dang »

mieseratte wrote: post #39
mschuster91 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even in prosperous Germany, the formerly communist East is well behind the capitalist West. That's "thanks" to the Treuhand scandal. West Germany essentially bled East Germany dry - brains, infrastructure, everything. East Germany perfectly shows what happens when all young people who can flee - the only ones remaining will be conservatives and outright Nazis.

Yes, which bears remarkable resemblance to the Bulgarian situation such that 30 years isn't going to allow for anyone to recover. And if you believe the Treuhand situation is the start and end of East German problems you are being overly reductionist, Herr Antifa.

No name-calling or political flamebait in HN comments, please.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#237

Post by dang »

kumbel wrote: post #11
e2le wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

#238

Post by dimitar »

xenator wrote: post #77

In Ukraine very common service to get EU citizenship by "making" family roots in Bulgaria. It costs about 3000+ euros to make a new passport. And waiting time is about 1.5 years from what I know from people who actually bought such service. I wandering doest it counted here? Can be decline numbers much bigger if count all people from Russia and Ukraine who made their new passports this way.

This is because Bulgaria still accepts Soviet passports with "Bulgarian" in 5th point as proof of Bulgarian origin, its complicated by the fact that there are still plenty of ethnic Bulgarians in Ukraine. Some of them, unfortunatelly have parents and grandparents listed as "Russian" in the old documents.

I'm surpised it costs so much thought, I guess demand is high.

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

#239

Post by simonebrunozzi »

cpursley wrote: post #25

A side effect of a stagnant economy and population shrinkage is that Bulgarian property is really cheap. You can purchase a modern flat starting around $15,000 (or rent for really cheap) in a ski community with a very strong remote worker presence (Bansko). If you do this right, you can also become a resident and benefit from a flat 10% income tax which is lowest in the EU. No affiliation; I just find this type of ar…

I was reading that capital gains for crypto are also very low, was it Bulgaria or am I remembering it wrong?

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

#240

Post by dimitar »

mrtksn wrote: post #8

Okay, let me draw a picture for you as someone who contributed to Bulgaria's shrinkage. It all starts in 1989, communist Bulgaria decides that it no longer wants its Turkish minority and a large number of people are deported or "let go" to Turkey. BBC has a short documntary on it[0]. Houses and lands are abandoned and only those who are too weak to immigrate remain. Congratulations, now you have ghost-city like place…

Great points, I also think the big waves of emigration have passed and the population will stabilize soon. It might even start increasing a little bit.
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