Pernik District TRAN BREZNIK > Population (2014) 127,872 > Area (sq. km) 2,394.2 PERNIK > Number of settlements 172 Kovachevtsi > Share of urban population (%) 78.9 ZEMEN RADOMIR Overview he district’s economic development has stagnat- as culture and healthcare, are affected considerably Ted and investment activities are still subdued. In- by the proximity to the capital city. A certain defi- comes are relatively high, but this is mainly due to the ciency of staff and hospital beds has been observed daily occupational migration to the capital city. The in healthcare. Visits to local theatres have dropped, unemployment rate has increased for the sixth succes- and those to libraries and museums are far below sive year. The infrastructural profile of the district is im- the country’s average levels. The demographic back- proving. The tax environment is relatively favourable, ground is highly unfavourable. Pernik has tradition- but the transparency rating of the local administration ally performed poorly in the field of education. The and the development level of administrative services indicators for the state of the environment and those have remained low. in the field of security and justice are better than na- Some fields of the district’s social development, such tionwide. 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 Pernik District 61 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Income and Living Conditions The average annual incomes are the second biggest af- EU operational programmes is located in Pernik District: ter those in the capital city – 5,941 BGN per capita com- Kovachevtsi Municipality. pared to the country average of 4,813 BGN. NSI data for household budget structure show that this is partly due Infrastructure to the high pension levels in the district. Households’ pension incomes amount to 4,220 BGN per household The density of the road and railway networks is about compared to 3,010 BGN for Bulgaria. Self-employment 33% percent higher than the country average. There incomes are also among the highest in the country. The were 24.1 km of roads and 4.8 km of railway lines per higher incomes of the daily migrant workers to the capi- 100 sq. km in 2013. The quality of roads has been consid- tal city offset the lower salaries of the district’s residents erably better than its national counterpart since 2010, who work in it. and about 50% of roads were in good condition in 2014 Although the share of the population living in house- compared to the national average of 40.5%. holds with low work intensity is almost half of the na- Pernik District has solely lagged in Internet connectiv- tional figure (6.8% compared to 11.6%), over half the ity and use. 52.8% of households had Internet access in district’s population (55%) lives in material deprivation. 2014 compared to the country average of 56.7%. While The relative share of people living below the district’s the difference regarding Internet access has gradually poverty line was similar to the national levels of poverty dropped, the relative share of the population that used in 2012 – 22%. the Internet for the past year has grown more slowly than the country average. Labour Market Taxes and Fees The main factors that impact the labour market in Pernik The level of local taxes and fees in Pernik District is com- District are the unfavourable demographic background paratively favourable in comparison with the national and the proximity to the capital city. The demographic average. Immovable property taxes for legal entities and replacement rate in Pernik is among the three least fa- vehicle taxes are comparable with the country averages. vourable ones in Bulgaria – 49 people aged 15–19 per The annual license tax for retailers and the tax on the 100 people aged 60–64. sale of immovable property are considerably lower than Economic activity has gradually neared the country av- those in most of Bulgaria. erage levels, but that is mainly due to the increasing The rate of the annual waste collection charge for prop- unemployment. The district’s unemployment increased erties of legal entities was lowered from 2012 to 2015 in 2014 for the sixth successive year, reaching 13.1% in three municipalities: Breznik (from 12.0 to 5.0‰), Ko- compared to the national average of 11.4%. The em- vachevtsi (from 8.0 to 6.0‰) and Radomir (from 6.0 to ployment rate remained steady from 2009 to 2012 but 5.0‰). There was an increase in Pernik Municipality only in 2013 and 2014 it lagged behind the recovery process – from 6.0 to 6.5‰ in 2014. that had started in Bulgaria. Administration Investment The share of the district’s territory included in cadastral Pernik is one of the ten districts where investment activi- maps was barely 4.5% in 2014; it included the territories ties can be referred to as poor. Companies’ expenditure of two municipalities only – Pernik and Breznik. This con- on the acquisition of FTAs was three times lower in 2013 stitutes the smallest territory covered after Vidin (2.1%), than in 2008. The cumulative rate of FDIs dropped by Kardzhali (3.4%) and Haskovo (3.8%). Pernik has made about 30 m euros in 2012 and 2013 to 229.7 m euros, no progress in this respect since 2009. The Active Trans- featuring the lowest level since 2006. parency Rating of local government bodies by the AIP As of 31 January 2015, the municipalities in the district Foundation is low – 42.1 points out of 88.4 points, with managed to draw down 61.3 m BGN as beneficiaries un- the national average at 54.5 points. The municipality of der EU operational programmes. This totalled 479.4 BGN Breznik got the highest grade (53.6 points), and Zemen per capita on average compared to the country aver- Municipality got the lowest – 21.1 points. age of 564.9 BGN. The municipalities of Pernik and Tran Three of the six municipalities in the district have de- reached the highest level of drawdown (550.5 BGN per clared a high level of development in one-stop shop capita, 494.5 BGN per capita respectively). One of the services – Breznik, Pernik and Tran. E-services are best two municipalities in Bulgaria without a single lev from developed in Pernik Municipality. 62 Regional Profiles 2015 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT Demography Pernik is one of the most urbanised districts in Bulgaria. hospitals – barely 2.3 beds per 1,000 people compared 78.9% of the population lived in towns and cities in 2014 to the country average of 4.8. compared to the country average of 73.1%, and higher concentration has only been observed in Gabrovo, Sofia (capital city) and Varna. Security and Justice Simultaneously, the population age structure is utterly The sixth biggest share of pending criminal cases at dis- unfavourable. The net migration rate has been negative trict courts was registered at the end of 2013 – 10.1% since 2009 – the number of people leaving the district is compared to the country average of 8.5%. In comparison higher than that of people settling there. Pernik became with the low real workload of penal judges – 4.4 cases the fourth district in 2014 where people aged 65+ were per judge per month, compared to the national average twice as many as people aged 0–14. The other districts of 8.3 in 2013 – this could be considered an indicator of a were Gabrovo, Kyustendil and Vidin. The ratio of the old- relatively less effective judicial system. Simultaneously, est population to that of working age is also among the the share of criminal cases closed in the first 3 months most unfavourable ones. Less than three individuals of was 89% in 2013, close to its national counterpart. working age per pensioner have been available since The number of registered crimes against property was 2011. slightly higher than the country average to reach 94.6 crimes per 10,000 people in 2014 compared to Bulgaria’s average of 89. The number of crimes against the person Education dropped twice compared to 2010. The relative share of repeaters and the share of dropouts from primary and secondary education have tradition- ally been lower than the national average. Nonetheless, Environment the enrolment rate is among the lowest, and the quality of education is unsatisfactory. Average grades at state The share of the population living in settlements with matriculation exams have been lower than Bulgaria’s av- public sewerage systems was 79.2% in 2013 compared erage since 2008. A record high share of unsatisfactory to the country average of 74.7%. Connectivity to waste grades was registered in 2015 – 8.1% compared to the water treatment plants was also high – 74.2% compared country average of 6.4%. to the country average of 56.4%. In 2013 the annual expenditure on environmental protection per capita Pernik was one of the districts with the lowest share of soared more than twice in the district, compared to the people with university degrees in 2014 – 17.8%. Sofia previous two years amounting to 422.7 BGN per capita, District – the other district neighbouring the capital city the fourth highest value in Bulgaria. – also has a low share of graduates (15.7%). The Europe- an Polytechnical University, opened in 2010, has failed Carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere de- to be acknowledged as a significant institution of higher creased faster in Bulgaria in 2012 and 2013 compared to education as yet, in terms of the number of students Pernik District.