Haskovo District DIMITROVGRAD > Population (2014) 238,488 > Area (sq. km) 5,533.3 Stambolovo

> Number of settlements 261

> Share of urban population (%) 72.5

Overview

he recovery of Haskovo District’s economy has The demographic issues of Haskovo District have been Tprogressed awkwardly following the crisis and caused by the negative natural increase of the popu- incomes have remained low compared to the nation- lation. In school education, students from the district al average. Both economic activity and employment have traditionally performed more poorly compared to have increased for the past two years and a drop was the country average and the low share of people with reported regarding unemployment. Investments have university degrees has remained an issue. Haskovo Dis- remained very low, and there was even an outflow of trict is relatively safe in comparison with the country, foreign capitals in 2012 and 2013. Nonetheless, the uti- and judicature is relatively fast. The indicators regard- lisation of EU funds intensified in 2014. E-services and ing culture have demonstrated a low intensity of cul- one-stop services at local municipalities improved. tural activities.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Weak Unsatisfactory Average Good Very good Weak Unsatisfactory Average Good Very good

Income and Living Conditions Demography

Labor Market Education

Investment Healthcare

Infrastructure Security and Justice

Taxes and Fees Environment

Administration Culture

Haskovo District 37 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Income and Living Conditions Infrastructure The economy of Haskovo District remains among the Haskovo District’s road network density is slightly bet- poorer ones in . GDP per capita was 6,166 BGN ter than the average level for Bulgaria. A positive factor in 2012, compared to the country average of almost is the proximity of the completed Trakia highway, and 11,000 BGN. Incomes have recovered slowly in recent the progress in the construction of the highway years, with high incomes from self-employment and is very important for the settlements in the district. The pensions standing out. The average annual gross salary quality of roads (excluding highways) has deteriorated was among the lowest in the country in 2014 at 6,581 in recent years and barely 30% of roads in Haskovo Dis- BGN. trict were in good condition in 2014. The relative share of the population living below the dis- Households’ connectivity to the Internet has improved trict’s poverty line has dropped, constituting 15.5% in in Haskovo District – 57.5% of them already had Internet 2012 – a share much lower than the country average. access in 2014. The use of the Internet has considerably The drop of the median income was the main reason for increased and 62% of the population stated they had that in 2012, which automatically means a lower poverty used the Internet in the past 12 months. line for the district. The share of people living in material deprivation diminished as well to slightly over 40% in 2012. The income inequality increased and the ratio of Taxes and Fees the incomes of the richest to those of the poorest 20% of households reached 6 times in 2012. Local taxes and fees are relatively high in Haskovo Dis- trict in comparison with the country average, which is valid for the immovable property taxes and vehicle taxes, and also for the taxes on the sale of property and the an- Labour Market nual waste collection charges. The local taxes in the dis- trict centre of Haskovo are among the highest compared The recovery of the labour market has intensified for to other district centres – 2‰ for immovable properties the past two years and employment of the population of companies, 2.6% local tax on the sale of immovable aged 15+ reached 47.5% in 2014. Economic activity has property and relatively high vehicle taxes. The other increased and was already 53% in 2014. Unemployment municipalities featuring high taxes are Madzharovo and has plummeted to 10.4% in 2014, below the country av- Stambolovo. Relatively low local taxes in the district are erage. The demographic replacement rate aggravated imposed in Lyubimets Municipality (1‰ on the immov- to 60% in 2014: there were 60 people aged 15–19, who able property of companies). The annual waste collec- were to join the workforce, per 100 people aged 60–64, tion charge for properties of legal entities is 12‰ in the who were to leave it. district centre of Haskovo.

Administration The municipalities in Haskovo District strongly improved Investment their administrative services in 2014. The municipalities of Dimitrovgrad, Haskovo and Ivaylovgrad provided FDIs in Haskovo District are among the lowest in Bul- good e-services. The municipalities of Dimitrovgrad, garia, and an outflow of foreign capitals was observed Haskovo, Lyubimets and Madzharovo are relatively well- in the last reported years (2012–2013). Expenditure on prepared for providing one-stop shop services. The cov- acquiring FTAs was also at very low levels, barely 209 m erage of cadastral maps is close to that of the worst-per- BGN in 2013. forming districts; it includes barely 3.8% of the district’s The municipalities in the district have utilised EU funds territory, partly including the municipalities of Haskovo, more intensively and the funds they were paid reached Dimitrovgrad, Harmanli and Ivaylovgrad. almost 115 m BGN as of 31 January 2015. The municipali- Haskovo District has lagged behind concerning the Ac- ties of Svilengrad and Madzharovo represent the best ex- tive Transparency Rating of local government bodies by amples of drawing down EU funds in the district – 45 m the AIP Foundation. In terms of this indicator, the munic- BGN and 1.5 m BGN respectively. The district centre of ipalities of Lyubimets, Haskovo, Simeonovgrad, Svilen- Haskovo received 36 m BGN of these funds. The munici- and Harmanli have performed best, and the munic- palities of Simeonovgrad and Topolovgrad are the worst ipalities of Ivaylovgrad, Mineralni Bani and Madzharovo examples, with utilised funds of less than 0.5 m BGN. have performed worst.

38 Regional Profiles 2015 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Demography Security and Justice With regard to the population size, Haskovo ranks 11th Haskovo District has good indicators for the security of in Bulgaria. Slightly more than 238,000 people lived in people and property. 4.9 crimes against the person and the district as at the end of 2014; 72.5% of them lived in 67.5 against property per 10,000 people were registered and cities. A steady trend of decrease in the pop- in 2014. It could be concluded from the data that the ulation size has been observed throughout the years, court works relatively efficiently and quickly. The share which had been caused by the high negative natural in- of criminal cases tried by the District Court and closed crease that reached –8‰ in 2014. The net migration rate in the first 3 months, was 92% in 2013 and the share of of the population went up after the high net population pending criminal cases was 7.2% as at the end of 2013, outflow during the crisis years (2009–2011) and it was the country average being 8.5%. Judges’ workload is even positive in 2014. relatively high and has gone up for the past couple of The age dependency ratios have deteriorated in com- years – it reached 10.1 cases per judge per month in parison with the country average and the population 2013 compared to a country average of 8.3 cases per 65+ was about 1.5 times higher than the population judge per month. 0–14 in 2014, and about one third of the working popu- lation aged 15–64. Environment Education Emissions of carbon dioxide have increased for the last Haskovo District has faced a certain deficiency in the reported year and Haskovo is among the districts with number of teachers in primary and secondary educa- relatively high emissions, a bit over 200 t/sq. km in 2013. tion – there were 14.5 students per teacher in 2014. The Collected household waste per capita has decreased in net enrolment rate (grades 5th through 8th), despite recent years and its volume was already below the na- the higher percentage of children attending school tional average level in 2013, almost 300 kg per capita, compared to the country average, fell to 80.5% in 2014, the second lowest in the country. and the relative share of dropouts retained its level of Over 70% of the population lived in settlements with 2.5% from 2011 to 2013. Grades at the state matricula- public sewerage systems in 2013. Almost half the pop- tion exam remained steady (4.1 in 2015), but the share ulation living in settlements with public sewerage sys- of failed students soared – 9.2% of the students failed at tems (46.9% in 2013) has been connected to waste water the state matriculation exam. treatment plants since 2011 following the commission- The share of the population aged 25–64 with university ing of the waste water treatment plant of the of degrees was 19.2% in 2014, which was low compared Dimitrovgrad at the end of 2010; the new waste water to the country average. No university has a registered treatment plant of Haskovo City was commissioned in address in the district and the number of students was mid-2011 – it considerably diminished the pollution of barely 289 in 2014. the Maritsa River. The expenditure on environmental protection amounted to approximately 39 m BGN in the district in 2013. Healthcare The number of beds in multi-profile hospitals in Hasko- vo District has slightly increased in recent years though lagging behind the country average – 781 beds in 2014, or 3.3 beds per 1,000 people compared to the country Culture average of 4.8 beds. This insufficient number could be The indicators referring to cultural activities in Haskovo one of the reasons for the traditionally small number of District show a number of weaknesses. Visits to muse- cases of hospitalisation in multi-profile hospitals within ums crept up in 2014 to slightly more than 32,000, but the district – 188 per 1,000 people of the population in the average number of visits in proportion to the popu- 2014. The lack of health professionals is noticeable. Spe- lation was much lower than the country average. Only cialised healthcare is concentrated in Haskovo City. the number of visits to theatres neared the national The number of health-insured persons is about the average, being 53,000 in 2014. Visits to cinemas were country average, 87.3% of the population in 2014. The barely 11,000 – there is practicaly no modern cinema in infant mortality rate surged in 2014 reaching 12.1‰, the district centre. Visits to libraries have also dropped – thus ranking the district second in infant mortality after 75,000 in 2014, which was below the national average in District. proportion to the population.

Haskovo District 39 Key Indicators for the District of Haskovo

Economic Development 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

GDP per capita (BGN, current prices) 5,378 5,059 5,974 6,166 n.a. n.a.

Average annual income per household member (BGN) 3,400 3,634 3,708 3,855 4,130 4,157

Average annual gross salary (BGN) 5,443 5,638 5,999 6,267 6,581 n.a.

Relative share of people living below the district’s poverty line (%) 20.3 18.2 19.0 15.5 n.a. n.a.

Annual average economic activity rate of the population 15+ (%) 53.2 52.8 50.2 49.7 52.4 53.0

Annual average employment rate of the population 15+ (%) 48.7 45.8 42.2 42.4 44.9 47.5

Annual average unemployment rate (%) 8.5 13.2 15.9 14.9 14.3 10.4

Number of non-financial companies per 1,000 people 46 46 46 46 47 n.a.

Expenditure on the acquisition of fixed tangible assets per capita (BGN) 834 666 784 1,612 867 n.a.

Cumulative FDI to non-financial enterprises per capita (EUR) 278 262 420 388 311 n.a.

Relative share of households with Internet access (%) 24.4 26.4 41.3 47.5 54.2 57.5

Share of roads in good condition (%) n.a. 51.5 42.0 44.0 33.6 30.0

Share of territory included in cadastral maps (%) 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8 3.8

Social Development 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rate of natural increase (‰) –5.4 –6.4 –6.6 –6.7 –6.8 –8.0

Net migration rate (‰) –4.7 –6.6 –4.0 –2.8 –3.1 1.0

Relative share of the population aged 25–64 with tertiary education (%) 18.6 19.4 17.1 18.5 20.3 19.2

Average grades at state matriculation exams 4.3 4.2 4.3 4.1 4.1 4.1

Percent of failed students at state matriculation exams 5.7 7.1 7.2 8.4 7.3 7.5

Health insured persons as share of the population (%) 88.8 86.3 88.3 87.5 86.2 87.3

Cases of hospitalization in general hospitals 141.1 140.0 147.4 180.4 197.9 188.1

Crimes against the property per 10,000 people 63.0 69.9 72.9 60.0 70.3 67.5

Share of pending criminal cases (%) 7.9 8.0 8.4 8.2 7.2 n.a.

Expenditure on environmental protection per capita (BGN) 105.1 106.6 86.8 167.0 161.5 n.a.

Share of the population living in settlements with public 0.0 0.0 46.7 46.7 46.9 n.a. sewerage systems, connected to WTTP (%)

Number of visits to cinemas per 1,000 people 22.6 22.8 23.0 68.9 53.2 46.1

Number of visits to theatres per 1,000 people 149.0 139.0 202.7 210.6 238.4 220.7

40 Regional Profiles 2015