First residence permits issued (total)

In 2021, Bulgaria's first residence permits issued (total) increased by 14.8% compared to 2020, reaching 11,784.

Bulgaria accounts for 0.4% of the EU-27 total of 3,273,875.

Bulgaria ranks 24th out of 27 EU member states with reported data — in the bottom half of the distribution.

Over the past five years, the indicator has grown by 48.4% (from 7,942 in 2016).

Source: Eurostat dataset migr_resfirst, accessed via the eupublicdata pipeline.