IME’s “Regional Profiles: Indicators of Development” 2013 Build-up

Starting from mid July 2013, IME began a tour of the 28 Bulgarian districts for a second year in a row, as part of the preparation of the forthcoming publication “Regional profiles: Indicators of Development 2013”.

Through meetings with representatives of NGOs, the business and the administration, IME aims to gain insights of the socio-economic situation of the various Bulgarian districts and to identify the common problems and issues, which they have.

In the lead up to the publication, we’ve prepared several analyses on leading issues such as employment, earnings and quality of life.

Labor Market and Earnings

The economic crisis continues to deepen the differences between the capital and the rest of the country’s districts. This is true not only for indicators such as unemployment and employment, but also for the levels of average earnings. For more information see “Employment and Wage Growth Dynamics in Bulgarian Districts in 2012” and “Both Wages and Unemployment Keep Growing”.

Income

In  “Income: How Far Ahead is Sofia?”, we take a look at the total earnings, which include monetary income (salary and other income, pensions, social benefits, income from sales and other transfers), as well as quantified natural income.

Quality of life

The assessment “Quality of life in Bulgarian districts”, drafted by the IME, is an attempt to combine the methodologies the globally recognised indices and apply them on a regional level in Bulgaria.

The project “Regional Profiles: Indicators of Development” is carried out with the financial support of the America for Bulgaria Foundation.