Transport and infrastructure in Bulgaria

Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Bulgaria with the average of all countries in Europe. The main traffic and transport routes are in good condition, but do not reach the level of the leading industrial nations.

In terms of the length of its rail network, Bulgaria ranks 27th in the world with 0.59 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 4,030 kilometers long. Freight traffic on the rails most recently totaled 4.66 billion tons and kilometers traveled. Passenger traffic reached 1.21 billion passenger-kilometers in 2021.

The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 354 km of coastline. In 2021, about 245,160 freight containers were transported.

› Airports in Bulgaria

Back to overview: Bulgaria

Road traffic

The network of roads and highways has a total length of 19,512 km. For each of the country's 6.88 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 2.84 meters. This puts Bulgaria in 149th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 62 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.

With an average of 669 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Bulgaria is considered relatively safe. This corresponds to 9.5 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.

In Bulgaria, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This rule was introduced at the end of the 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Bulgaria
Roadways	19,500 km	2,836.98 km	175.78 m
Railroads	4,000 km	585.95 km	36.31 m
Waterways	470 km	68.34 km	4.23 m
Commercial harbors	79	11.49	0.001
Airports	4	0.58	0.036

	total	per 1 mio inhabitants	per km²
	Europe
Roadways	6,708,900 km	11,154.38 km	1,111.71 m
Railroads	258,600 km	429.97 km	42.85 m
Waterways	54,800 km	91.17 km	9.09 m
Commercial harbors	15,273	25.39	0.003
Airports	573	0.95	0.000

Data sources used

• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)
• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)

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