The Institute for Market Economics held a special presentation for the international community of the latest edition of Regional Profiles: Indicators of Development on March 12 at the International Center of UniCredit Bulbank in Sofia. The event showcased key findings from the publication and offered insights into regional challenges and Bulgaria’s prospects for adopting the euro in 2026.
For over a decade now, the Institute for Market Economics has presented the annual issue of Regional Profiles: Indicators of Development, the only almanac of regional development in Bulgaria of its kind. The book, better known as The Regional Profiles, has now become an established trademark of IME.
The study is based on 75 indicators evaluating the economic and social environment in the country’s 28 districts. All data presented in it is also available at www.regionalprofiles.bg, the Institute’s specialized web page. Being organized around specific indicators allows data to be observed in its dynamics, as well as to make comparisons between individual districts. Access to the most complete recent mass of statistical data at the regional level is thus facilitated.
Thanks to the work of the institutions collecting and providing statistics, with each successive year, the IME team has been able to include more relevant and wide-ranging statistics for each district’s socio-economic environment. In the present edition, most figures are for 2023. Exceptions are few in number and are limited to several indicators which get published with a delay of over a year: data on GDP per capita per district, those on salaries, as well as some indicators in investment, the environment, and infrastructure. Where possible, in fields such as administration, education and local taxes, for example, analysis also rests on figures for 2024.
This study can benefit national and local government, business and the media, as well as academics, experts and people in the non-governmental sector, in their work on regional development.
- Regional Profiles: Indicators of Development 2024 – full edition