Effects of migration on sending countries: lessons from Bulgaria

Research on Bulgarian migration has been rather sketchy often based on small purposive samples in selected host countries or on macro data of unreliable quality from Bulgaria itself. A thorough understanding of the impacts of migration for Bulgaria is needed to heighten the possibility for policy makers in both sending and receiving countries to help optimise the benefits of migration. This paper aims to enhance this understanding by offering an historical overview of migration dynamics and showing that in recent years there has been a growing trend towards temporary and seasonal migration rather than permanent settlement, the preferred destinations being Greece, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Germany and Netherlands. Seasonal and circular migration is becoming more ethnically and regionally specific. The paper shows that current emigration trends have substantial economic and demographic consequences, both positively (the contribution to loosening of labour market pressures, poverty alleviation, and an increase of small businesses through remittances) and negatively (the danger of brain drain and depopulation of peripheral regions of the country).