Abstract:
The paper deals with the population dynamics and the problem of depopulation of the mountainous settlements in Bulgaria in the period between 1985 and 2011. Based on the analysis of the current state, trends and spatial characteristics, a permanent trend of population decrease has been established, albeit the diminishing values of the population decrease rate (from –3.4% in the period 1985–1992 to –1.5% in the period 2001–2011). In order to trace which areas are most affected by depopulation processes, typologization of the mountain settlements has been made, depending on the “degree of depopulation”, using the Mladenov scale (2014), according to which depopulation is considered weak (values of relative decrease below 10%), moderate (between 10 and 20%), significant (20-60%), critical (60-80%) and irreversible (over 80%). The process of depopulation affects the majority of the mountainous settlements located in the western border regions of the country, the StrandzhaSakar region, the Central Stara Planina Mnt, including the regions with a high share of Turkish (Eastern Rhodopes) and Bulgarian Muslim population (Western Rhodopes). The classification of the mountainous settlements according to their population number, has established that the number of settlements with a population below 100 residents has increased (43%) at the expense of those with a population number over 500 residents (19.6%). Emigration and negative natural growth are the leading factors for the decrease of the population of the mountainous settlements in the period between 1985 and 2011. The current trends in the population dynamics of the mountainous settlements in Bulgaria predetermine further depopulation.