Veliko Tarnovo District SVISHTOV

> Population (2014) 249,454 POLSKI TRAMBESH PAVLIKENI STRAZHITSA > Area (sq. km) 4,661.6 GORNA SUHINDOL ORYAHOVITSA > Number of settlements 337 VELIKO LYASKOVETS TARNOVO > Share of urban population (%) 70.0 ZLATARITSA

ELENA Overview

he economy of Veliko Tarnovo District recov- poor quality of the infrastructure, the relatively high Tered relatively fast from the crisis, and it was as local taxes and fees and the low effectiveness of the early as 2010 that the GDP per capita exceeded its local administration. pre-crisis levels. A constantly rising employment rate The social development of Veliko Tarnovo District has has been observed for the past several years: it was been assessed as good. On the one hand, the good re- already higher in 2014 than in 2008. Foreign invest- sults of the district have been preconditioned by the big ment in the district continued to be among the low- number of university students, the relatively low crime est in Bulgaria but the region more or less success- rate and the exceptionally high interest in museums fully managed to draw down funds under European and libraries. On the other hand, the demographic state programmes. The comparatively small volume of in- has deteriorated due to the more intensive ageing of vestment in the district has probably been due to the the population in comparison with the other districts.

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

Veliko Tarnovo District 117 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Income and Living Conditions The economy of Veliko Tarnovo District has continued to of Svisthov and Veliko Tarnovo. The smallest sums were lag behind the average indicators for Bulgaria, although paid in the municipalities of Suhindol and Polski Tram- the nominal GDP growth per capita (3.8%, to 7,163 BGN) besh (49.3 BGN per capita, 51.1 respectively). was higher than the country average in 2012 (2.7%, to 10,958 BGN). Incomes per capita decreased in 2014 compared to 2013 Infrastructure following several years of constant, though slow, growth. Veliko Tarnovo has remained the district with the high- The density of the road network in Veliko Tarnovo dis- est share of property incomes in the total household in- trict has remained slightly above the country average. come (3%). The yearly salary continued to grow in 2013 Nonetheless, the rating for road quality is consider- outweighing the salary growth in the country. Simultane- ably below the national average. Although the share of ously, the share of people living in material deprivation, roads in good condition has increased for the past three as well as the share of the poor in the district, decreased. years, only a little over one quarter of the district’s roads (27.7%) were in good condition in 2014 compared to 40.5% for Bulgaria. The relative share of households with Labour Market Internet access and the share of people who had used the Internet for the past 12 months have remained be- The good trends on the district labour market have con- low the nationwide average despite a long-term grow- tinued. The employment rate increased and it already ing trend. exceeded its 2008 level in 2014, featuring the highest growth in the entire country (with 3.6 pp compared to the nationwide average of 1.1 pp), although the average employment rate (48%) was not reached. Veliko Tarnovo Taxes and Fees remained the district with the biggest number of em- The local taxes and fees in the municipalities of Veliko ployed people in the North Central Region since 2011. Tarnovo District are relatively high. The difference in The unemployment rate went down to 11.7% in 2014, properties of legal entities is the highest compared to which was close to the national average of 11.4%, in line Bulgaria’s average – all municipalities in the district have with the increase of the employment rate. preserved higher tax rates than the national average. As The ongoing intensification of economic activity has for the vehicle tax, Veliko Tarnovo Municipality applies brought the district’s data closer to the country’s aver- the highest rate in Bulgaria for 2015 (1.76 BGN/kW for age figures since 2010. In 2008, the economic activity automobiles with power from 74 kW to 110 kW). of the population 15+ was 5.5 pp lower than Bulgaria’s Generally, the municipalities in the district have lower average, but the difference diminished to 1.4 pp in 2014. tax rates than those in the other districts of Bulgaria for the annual license tax for retailers and the waste collec- tion charge for properties of legal entities. Investment In Veliko Tarnovo, the accrued FDIs per capita continued to be among the lowest in Bulgaria in 2013; the district Administration ranked fifth in terms of the smallest total of investments compared to the population, following the districts of The share of the district’s territory included in cadastral Haskovo, Kyustendil, Montana and Silistra. The number maps is relatively small. While 18.1% of Bulgaria’s terri- of non-financial companies (40 per 1,000 people com- tory was in the cadastral map in 2014, the share of Veliko pared to the country’s average of 52) and the expenses Tarnovo District was 6.7%, and the progress has been for acquiring FTAs (1,576 BGN per capita compared to very slow in recent years. 2,490 BGN for the country) are relatively low. The grade regarding the reached level of e-administra- In comparison with the low investment activities of the tion and one-stop shop services has also been below the enterprises, the municipalities in Veliko Tarnovo per- country average; only the administration of Veliko Tar- formed relatively well in the utilisation of EU funds. As novo Municipality achieved good results. of 31 January 2015, the municipalities in the district re- The grades for the transparency of local government ceived 620.8 BGN per capita compared to the national bodies increased in 2015 compared to 2014, but re- average of 564.9 BGN. The municipality of Lyaskovets mained lower than the national average. The municipali- attracted most European funds (843.2 BGN per capita, ties of Strazhitsa and Svisthov are the most transparent, or a total of 10 m BGN), followed by the municipalities and Lyaskovets is the least transparent one.

118 Regional Profiles 2015 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Demography Population ageing in Veliko Tarnovo District is more mained relatively low, and the district ranks third among acute than in most districts in Bulgaria due to the less the lowest infant mortality rates in Bulgaria, following favourable rate of natural increase and the net migration Gabrovo and Smolyan. rate of the district’s population. In 2014, more people left the district than settled in it, and the rate of natural Security and Justice decrease worsened again following a slight improve- ment in the previous year. Veliko Tarnovo is one of the districts with the lowest The lower share of the urban population compared to crime rates: the registered crimes against individuals the national average, as well as the lower population were 3.8 per 10,000 people in 2014 compared to 5.9 for density, were preserved in 2014. Bulgaria, and the crimes against property were 65.7 per 10,000 people compared to the national average of 89.0. The indicators on justice in the district also demonstrate Education good results. 94% of criminal cases were completed In 2014, Veliko Tarnovo District ranked first in terms of within 3 months in 2013, which was almost 6 pp above the number of university students relative to the popu- the average for all districts. The share of pending cases lation (108 per 1,000 individuals compared to 38 per- was 7.4% compared to 8.5% for Bulgaria. Veliko Tarnovo taining to Bulgaria and 83 pertaining to the capital city) is also one of the districts where the judges’ workload is for yet another year. The total number of students was relatively low: there are 6.3 cases per month, per judge, 27,000. Regarding the number of students Veliko Tar- and there are 8.3 cases per judge per month regarding novo District ranked fourth after the districts of Plovdiv, the country. In comparison, one judge in the capital city Sofia (capital city) and Varna. Despite the good tradi- hears an average of 15 cases per month. tions in higher education, the share of graduates in the working population is insignificantly higher than the na- Environment tional average, which suggests that graduates seek jobs and homes in other districts following their graduation. Veliko Tarnovo District demonstrates lower results than Veliko Tarnovo District does not score very good results the country average in the indicators that measure the in secondary education. The net enrolment rate (grades state of the environment. The reasons for the poor grade 5th through 8th) and the results from state matricula- of the district in this category are complex. On the one tion exams are comparable with the country average, hand there is the relatively low share of the population but a relatively high proportion of students drop out with access to sewage connected with waste water treat- from primary and secondary schools (3.2% compared to ment plants, and the population residing in settlements the country average of 2.4%). with a public sewerage system: the district has not pro- gressed significantly in both indicators in recent years. On the other hand, expenditure per capita for environ- Healthcare mental protection was about two times smaller than the Veliko Tarnovo has continued to be the district featuring figure for the country in 2013 and it decreased by about the lowest share of health-insured persons in Bulgaria a quarter in comparison with 2012. – 83.1% compared to 87.1% for Bulgaria in 2014. There Veliko Tarnovo District is distinguished positively in pro- is a shortage of both general practitioners and key spe- ducing half of the country-average emissions of carbon cialists, along with the relatively high proportion of peo- dioxide per sq. km. ple who have no valid health insurance. The ratio of the number of beds in MpHATs to the population is consid- Culture erably lower than the country average. Given such indi- cators of health insurance and the access to healthcare, Visits to theatres and libraries, relative to the population, the share of inpatients in the population remains lower were three times higher than Bulgaria’s average in 2014. than the national average, but this share has continu- In addition, the district ranked first in Bulgaria in terms ously grown in recent years. The low share of inpatients of the annual number of visits to libraries per 1,000 peo- in hospitals throughout the district could be due more ple and it ranked third with regard to visits to museums to the use of healthcare outside the district, because per 1,000 people following the districts of Gabrovo and of the lack of specialists, than the lower morbidity rate. Sofia. Both indicators have grown for the past five years. The share of inpatients has constantly grown in recent Visits to cinemas and theatres have grown in recent years, which could be explained by the fast ageing of years again but more slowly than the country average the district’s population. The infant mortality rate has re- in 2014.

Veliko Tarnovo District 119 Key Indicators for the District of Veliko Tarnovo

Economic Development 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

GDP per capita (BGN, current prices) 5,967 6,349 6,901 7,163 n.a. n.a.

Average annual income per household member (BGN) 3,409 3,502 3,648 4,043 4,385 4,288

Average annual gross salary (BGN) 5,765 6,119 6,488 6,742 7,262 n.a.

Relative share of people living below the district’s poverty line (%) 24.2 26.9 19.7 15.2 n.a. n.a.

Annual average economic activity rate of the population 15+ (%) 46.8 44.8 48.2 49.8 51.2 52.7

Annual average employment rate of the population 15+ (%) 42.6 38.9 42.6 42.9 42.9 46.5

Annual average unemployment rate (%) 9.0 13.1 11.7 13.8 16.2 11.7

Number of non-financial companies per 1,000 people 40 40 39 40 40 n.a.

Expenditure on the acquisition of fixed tangible assets per capita (BGN) 1,027 980 1,516 1,482 1,576 n.a.

Cumulative FDI to non-financial enterprises per capita (EUR) 249 246 284 331 359 n.a.

Relative share of households with Internet access (%) 23.1 29.6 45.0 41.0 46.6 55.0

Share of roads in good condition (%) n.a. 55.7 30.2 23.6 25.7 27.7

Share of territory included in cadastral maps (%) 3.4 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.7

Social Development 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Rate of natural increase (‰) –6.5 –7.9 –7.9 –7.9 –6.9 –8.2

Net migration rate (‰) –1.2 –6.8 –2.0 –3.0 –2.7 –5.2

Relative share of the population aged 25–64 with tertiary education (%) 24.2 23.0 21.5 23.5 26.6 27.3

Average grades at state matriculation exams 4.3 4.2 4.4 4.2 4.3 4.2

Percent of failed students at state matriculation exams 3.6 5.7 5.6 6.2 6.6 5.5

Health insured persons as share of the population (%) 83.7 80.9 84.2 83.3 82.2 83.1

Cases of hospitalization in general hospitals 153.9 136.6 138.9 142.2 146.9 149.4

Crimes against the property per 10,000 people 72.6 90.9 95.7 83.8 72.0 65.7

Share of pending criminal cases (%) 6.4 7.7 8.4 8.6 7.4 n.a.

Expenditure on environmental protection per capita (BGN) 80.9 74.3 94.9 202.9 156.8 n.a.

Share of the population living in settlements with public 40.9 41.2 43.9 44.2 44.5 n.a. sewerage systems, connected to WTTP (%)

Number of visits to cinemas per 1,000 people 183.0 350.2 376.3 340.4 396.3 470.8

Number of visits to theatres per 1,000 people 38.3 54.5 67.3 102.2 122.9 122.3

120 Regional Profiles 2015