Lagging rural regions pose a limitation to human development in Bulgaria.
One third of Bulgaria's population lives in rural regions under conditions of more poverty, higher unemployment and poorer healthcare standards
What policies could improve life for those people?
FOR the first time the problems of rural regions are examined from the perspective of the concept of human development.
With Bulgaria getting closer to European Union membership, the United Nations Development Programme launched the National Human Development Report - Bulgaria 2003 Rural Regions: Overcoming Development Disparities, which recommends measures to integrate rural regions into the overall development of the country. The report was released at a presentation at the National Art Gallery in Sofia.
Some of the conclusions from the report included that that the agrarian sector makes up 12 per cent of Bulgaria's economy, while for most European countries its share stands at less than three per cent.
"Although agriculture is the main source of employment, 68 per cent of village households rely mainly on incomes from nonagricultural activities," the report said. These, however, were mostly incomes from social benefits and pensions.
"Efforts are thus needed to diversify the economy in rural regions."
Considered against this background, programmes such as SAPARD and the State Fund for Agriculture seem insufficient for the diversified and varied development of rural regions.
In villages, subsistence farming makes up, to an extent, for lower incomes but the better part of the population is not involved in market-orientated agriculture. Village dwellers' spending on food is 71 per cent of town dwellers' spending.
"Poorer quality of education further decreases young persons' chances to prove competitive at the labour market," the report said.
It said the depopulation of Bulgarian villages was subsiding, however, one in four village residents was more than 65 years of age. Villages concentrated 46 per cent of the Roma and 63 per cent of the Turkish ethnic minority.
Citizens' participation in the formulation and delivery of local policies could hold the key towards sustainable local and regional development, the report said. Decentralisation of support programmes and decentralisation of institutions was an important condition for civic participation.
"In the EU accession process Bulgaria should have a consensus about what would make the country competitive in united Europe and how it is going to apply the Union's Common Agricultural Policy on the national level."
The authors of the National Human Development Report analysed the underdevelopment of rural regions as part of regional and social disparity in Bulgaria. The report emphasises the need to decentralise government institutions and the policies and programmes they implement. Bulgaria's EU accession is seen as an opportunity for the equitable development of rural regions.
The report calculates and analyses for the fifth time and for 262 Bulgarian municipalities the Human Development Index that was first introduced in 2000.
"In addition to the index and rank list of the municipalities of the 28 districts, the report presents the first typology of Bulgarian municipalities," a UNDP statement said. The separate municipal types are defined in terms of pairs of opposed indicators. Research aimed to uncover and group the main features that differentiate Bulgarian municipalities as well as to identify the municipalities that best typify each class.
Plovdiv, Varna, Dobrich, Sofia Metropolitan Municipality and Yambol are the top five municipalities with highest indicator values ("urban" municipalities) according to the report. On the other hand the top five municipalities with lowest indicator values ("rural" municipalities) are Treklyano, Boynitsa, Kovachevtsi, Georgi Damyanovo and Chuprene.
The top five municipalities with highest indicator values for educational coverage given in the report are Gotse Delchev, Svishtov, Treklyano, Apriltsi and Zavet and municipalities Kaynardzha, Chavdar, Krushari, Opan, and Rakovski were marked as the top five with lowest educational coverage.
The report used official data of the National Statistics Institute and data from a public opinion poll conducted specifically for the purposes of the report. The poll was conducted by the A.S.A. Agency in February to March 2003 using a standardised questionnaire and a nationally representative, two-phased, random nominal sample of a total of 1432 face-to-face interviews, 629 of them conducted in villages. Reality Check Groups comprising representatives of local institutions, agrarian and non-agrarian businesses, as well as ordinary citizens, were held in the villages of Trud (Maritza Municipality) and Satovcha (Satovcha Municipality) and in the towns of Cherven Bryag, Beloslav, Varshetz and Kirkovo.
One third of Bulgaria's population lives in rural regions under conditions of more poverty, higher unemployment and poorer healthcare standards
What policies could improve life for those people?
FOR the first time the problems of rural regions are examined from the perspective of the concept of human development.
With Bulgaria getting closer to European Union membership, the United Nations Development Programme launched the National Human Development Report - Bulgaria 2003 Rural Regions: Overcoming Development Disparities, which recommends measures to integrate rural regions into the overall development of the country. The report was released at a presentation at the National Art Gallery in Sofia.
Some of the conclusions from the report included that that the agrarian sector makes up 12 per cent of Bulgaria's economy, while for most European countries its share stands at less than three per cent.
"Although agriculture is the main source of employment, 68 per cent of village households rely mainly on incomes from nonagricultural activities," the report said. These, however, were mostly incomes from social benefits and pensions.
"Efforts are thus needed to diversify the economy in rural regions."
Considered against this background, programmes such as SAPARD and the State Fund for Agriculture seem insufficient for the diversified and varied development of rural regions.
In villages, subsistence farming makes up, to an extent, for lower incomes but the better part of the population is not involved in market-orientated agriculture. Village dwellers' spending on food is 71 per cent of town dwellers' spending.
"Poorer quality of education further decreases young persons' chances to prove competitive at the labour market," the report said.
It said the depopulation of Bulgarian villages was subsiding, however, one in four village residents was more than 65 years of age. Villages concentrated 46 per cent of the Roma and 63 per cent of the Turkish ethnic minority.
Citizens' participation in the formulation and delivery of local policies could hold the key towards sustainable local and regional development, the report said. Decentralisation of support programmes and decentralisation of institutions was an important condition for civic participation.
"In the EU accession process Bulgaria should have a consensus about what would make the country competitive in united Europe and how it is going to apply the Union's Common Agricultural Policy on the national level."
The authors of the National Human Development Report analysed the underdevelopment of rural regions as part of regional and social disparity in Bulgaria. The report emphasises the need to decentralise government institutions and the policies and programmes they implement. Bulgaria's EU accession is seen as an opportunity for the equitable development of rural regions.
The report calculates and analyses for the fifth time and for 262 Bulgarian municipalities the Human Development Index that was first introduced in 2000.
"In addition to the index and rank list of the municipalities of the 28 districts, the report presents the first typology of Bulgarian municipalities," a UNDP statement said. The separate municipal types are defined in terms of pairs of opposed indicators. Research aimed to uncover and group the main features that differentiate Bulgarian municipalities as well as to identify the municipalities that best typify each class.
Plovdiv, Varna, Dobrich, Sofia Metropolitan Municipality and Yambol are the top five municipalities with highest indicator values ("urban" municipalities) according to the report. On the other hand the top five municipalities with lowest indicator values ("rural" municipalities) are Treklyano, Boynitsa, Kovachevtsi, Georgi Damyanovo and Chuprene.
The top five municipalities with highest indicator values for educational coverage given in the report are Gotse Delchev, Svishtov, Treklyano, Apriltsi and Zavet and municipalities Kaynardzha, Chavdar, Krushari, Opan, and Rakovski were marked as the top five with lowest educational coverage.
The report used official data of the National Statistics Institute and data from a public opinion poll conducted specifically for the purposes of the report. The poll was conducted by the A.S.A. Agency in February to March 2003 using a standardised questionnaire and a nationally representative, two-phased, random nominal sample of a total of 1432 face-to-face interviews, 629 of them conducted in villages. Reality Check Groups comprising representatives of local institutions, agrarian and non-agrarian businesses, as well as ordinary citizens, were held in the villages of Trud (Maritza Municipality) and Satovcha (Satovcha Municipality) and in the towns of Cherven Bryag, Beloslav, Varshetz and Kirkovo.
