Nearly 35 per cent of young Bulgarians, aged between 15 and 30, wanted to work for big salaries, according to Gallup International research on the economic competitiveness of young people in Bulgaria, ordered by United Nations Development Programme. Of those interviewed, 27 per cent said that they wanted to work abroad for more than a year, but only eight per cent wanted to emigrate.

Another 30 per cent planned to develop private business, and 14 per cent wanted to work for the state administration, the research showed as quoted by Dnevnik daily.

Young people mainly wanted to study engineering, technical science and economy. Agriculture, philology, finance, pedagogics, art, social studies, IT, medicine and pharmacy, sport, law and, international relations were the other most desired careers. Least interesting to young Bulgarians was military education.

Nearly half of the young people questioned, 44 per cent, intended to study in Bulgarian universities, 23 per cent in the EU and 10 per cent wanted to study in the US.

More than half, 60 per cent, of those who wanted to work abroad had no pretensions what work they would do. 32 per cent wanted to practice their profession. One fifth of the people in the poll said that they planned to go abroad within a year.

As to the political activity of the young people, 41 per cent of them intended to vote in elections, while one third of them thought that it was pointless.

The majority of young Bulgarians, 56 per cent, approved of Bulgaria’s EU accession, 27 per cent disapproved of it.