First residence permits issued (total)

In 2023, Bulgaria's first residence permits issued (total) increased by 22.3% compared to 2022, reaching 19,375.

Bulgaria accounts for 0.5% of the EU-27 total of 3,821,562.

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 63.3% (from 11,864 in 2018).

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