site.btaBulgaria’s Digital Progress Trails EU-27

In 2022 Bulgaria ranks last but one in the EU-27 according to the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which tracks digital progress. It is trailed by Romania only.

With regards to introducing digital technologies in the economy and the acquisition of digital skills by citizens, Bulgaria receives a score of 32.6 points which is below the EU average of 45.7 points. 

Bulgaria’s score has improved by an average 9% annually over the past five years. However, this rate of growth is not enough for Bulgaria to catch up with the rest of the EU, the European Commission notes.

The share of people in Bulgaria who have basic digital skills is below the EU average. In terms of Bulgarians who have more advanced digital skills Bulgaria is lagging with 8% of the population compared with 26% in the EU.

The country is also lagging in terms of IT specialists, who account for only 3.5 per cent of the working age population compared with an average 4.5 per cent in the EU. However, in Bulgaria the share of women IT specialists is high.

In terms of Internet connectivity Bulgaria performs very well. 

The adoption of digital technologies by small and medium sized businesses in Bulgaria has reached nearly half the EU level. As little as 6% of Bulgarian companies use large data sets. 10% cloud storage services and as little as 3% work with Artificial Intelligence as opposed to the EU target of 75-per cent for each technology by 2030.

In order to aid the digitization of companies Bulgaria uses EU centres for digital innovations.

Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden continue to lead the EU in terms of digital progress. 

By 2030, at least 80 per cent of the adult population in the EU should have at least basic digital skill. Some 127 billion euro will be set aside for reforms and investments in digital technologies under the Recovery and Resilience Facility.