Healthcare in Bulgaria

Healthcare in Bulgaria is slightly above average in a global comparison.

Probably the most important indicator that can be used to summarize the efficiency of all measures is general life expectancy. In other words, the theoretical age that a newborn child could potentially reach today. At the moment, this age in Bulgaria is 69.9 years for men and 77.5 years for women. For comparison: worldwide life expectancy is about 1.4 years lower (men: 69.8 / women: 74.9 years).

A total of 697.90 USD per inhabitant is spent annually on health measures at state expense. This corresponds to approximately 7.1 percent of the gross domestic product. Internationally, this amount averages 1,103.03 USD (~ 9.8% of the respective GDP).

Back to overview: Bulgaria

Spread of COVID-19 in Bulgaria

Current incidence in the week ending 05/28/2023: 8.7 new infections per 100,000 population

Since the beginning of the pandemic until May 28th, 2023, a total of 1,306,862 infected people and 38,372 deaths have been reported in Bulgaria.

The total of 1,306,862 infected people currently represents 18.80 percent of the total population. The number of new infections during the seven days preceding May 28th, 2023, was 604, for a 7-day incidence of 8.7 cases per 100,000 population. In the same week, twelve people died from (or with) COVID-19. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, this results in a mortality rate of about 2.9 percent in Bulgaria.

Current vaccination status

According to official WHO data, a total of 4.62 million vaccine doses have been administered as of May 14th, 2023. More recent data are not yet available to WHO. There are 2.11 million people who have received at least one vaccination (30.3 percent). The booster vaccination was received by 832,410 people (12.0 percent).

2.08 million of these are considered fully vaccinated in Bulgaria (= 29.9 percent).
This means that Bulgaria is one of the countries with the worst vaccination coverage in the world.The vaccination rate is higher in 194 countries.

Weight and size

	Male	Female
Body height	173 cm	164 cm
BMI	27.2	25.9
Weight	81.8 kg	69.6 kg

Diseases

	Bulgaria	Ø worldwide
Diabetes *	6.00%	8.81%
Tuberculosis	0.17‰	1.34‰
HIV / Aids	0.01%	0.03%

* The number of people suffering from diabetes refers only to inhabitants aged between 20 and 79 years.

Child vaccinations

	Bulgaria	Ø worldwide
Measles	89.0%	81.7%
Hepatitis B	0.09%	0.08%
DTP *	8.90%	8.14%

* DTP is a combined basic vaccination against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, which should be given to children up to the age of 23 months.

In Bulgaria, 39.0 percent of all over 15-year-olds are still smokers.

Medical supplies

The medical care provided by doctors and hospitals in Bulgaria is above average and also exceeds the average achieved in the EU countries. The country provides 7.5 hospital beds per 1,000 inhabitants. The global mean here is 2.9 beds. Within the EU, 4.6 beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

With about 27,400 physicians in Bulgaria, there are about 3.99 doctors per 1000 inhabitants. Here again the comparison: worldwide this standard is 1.50 physicians per 1,000 inhabitants and in the EU is 3.57.

Through medical care, the mortality rate of major known diseases can be reduced as far as possible. For example, only about 24 percent of all people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or chylomicron retention disease (CRD) currently die.

Drinking water supply

About 98 percent of the population has access to an immediately available, running drinking water supply. At least via springs and wells within a maximum distance of 30 minutes or supplied water, 99 peprcent of the population is supplied with largely clean drinking water. The population is thus better served than average. In a global comparison, only about 74 percent of the population has direct access to tested and always available drinking water. Within the European Union, this share is 98 percent. Only in a few countries does the proportion fall below 10 percent.

Sources

The above data correspond to the information from the World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Statistics, UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, Global Health Observatory Data Repository and OECD. The case numbers for the spread of the COVID-19 come from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Average age by countryRising average age worldwide: since 1950 alone, more than 4 years. A list by country.

Average life expectancy by countryInternational ranking of life expectancy in 120 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.

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