More evidence that the population of Bulgaria is shifting into the big cities was the road from Varna to Sofia...
.. it was empty, except for traffic travelling from Varna to Sofia!
Work is being carried out to widen this key trunk route - but it still has the feel of small scale investment vs the huge motorway program being carried out in Romania (to link Constanta to Hungary).
Whilst passing through the country it is worth noting that
25% of the working population in Bulgaria is involved in agriculture - but this delivers just 7% of GDP.
There is a also a large unemployment in rural areas and it is reasonable to assume that many of them would be involved in subsistence farming of some sort.
This explains why the average wage in agriculature (outside of subsistence farming) is just 130 Euros per month vs 424 in financial services (ie bank tellers).
Cheers
Neil
PS. Anecdotal evidence is that Sofia's wages are 30% higher than the country average. I think this is more like Sofia's wages are 30% higher than other major towns and cities (with the exception of Varna) but that the countryside consists mainly of subsistence farming.
PPS. The region that the Varna to Sofia road passes through is also a high unemployment region - with the exception of Gabrovo - which has a small but healthy mountain tourism
PPPS. The northern plain (ie road from Varna to Sofia) is principally a wheat growing area. However, with lack of rain and high heat this summery, the wheat crop might be down 50%. This could easily drive more small farmers into the cities.
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Neil Lewis, CEO and founder of Property Secrets, is an experienced property investor in his own right and author of two highly successful property investment books, 
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