| Languages of Bulgaria | |
|---|---|
| Official | Bulgarian |
| Minority | Turkish,Romani |
| Foreign | English (25%)[1] Russian (23%) German (8%) |
| Signed | Bulgarian Sign Language |
| Keyboard layout | |
Theofficial language ofBulgaria isBulgarian,[2] which is spoken natively by 85% of the country's population. Other major languages areTurkish (9.1%), andRomani (4.2%)[3] (the two main varieties beingBalkan Romani andVlax Romani). There are smaller numbers of speakers ofArmenian,Aromanian,Romanian,Crimean Tatar,Gagauz andBalkan Gagauz,Macedonian andEnglish.Bulgarian Sign Language has an estimated 37,000 signers.[4]
At the 2011 Census, the optional question about native language was answered by 6,640,000 respondents, or just over 90% of the total population.[3]
| Native language | Number of speakers | Percentage of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian | 5,659,024 | 85.20% |
| Turkish | 605,802 | 9.12% |
| Romani | 281,217 | 4.23% |
| Russian | 15,808 | 0.24% |
| Armenian | 5,615 | 0.08% |
| Romanian | 5,523 | 0.08% |
| Greek | 3,224 | 0.05% |
| "Vlach"(Aromanian andRomanian) | 1,826 | 0.03% |
| Ukrainian | 1,755 | 0.03% |
| Macedonian | 1,404 | 0.02% |
| Arabic | 1,397 | 0.02% |
| Tatar | 1,372 | 0.02% |
| Other | 10,623 | 0.16% |
| Do not self-identify | 47,564 | 0.72% |
| Total returns | 6,642,154 | 100% |
| Total population | 7,364,570 |
The 2001 census defines an ethnic group as a "community of people, related to each other by origin and language, and close to each other by mode of life and culture"; and one's mother tongue as "the language a person speaks best and usually uses for communication in the family (household)".[5]
| Native Language | By ethnic group | Percentage | By first language | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian | 6,655,210 | 83.93% | 6,997,000 | 88.46% |
| Turkish | 746,660 | 9.42% | 663,000 | 8.62% |
| Romani | 370,910 | 4.67% | 128,000 | 1.13% |
| Others | 69,000 | 0.87% | 71,000 | 0.89% |
| Total | 7,928,900 | 100% | 7,928,900 | 100%[5] |
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Bulgarian is the country's only official language. It is spoken by the vast majority of the Bulgarian population and used at all levels of society. It is aSlavic language, and its closest relative isMacedonian.
Bulgarian is written withCyrillic, which is also used byRussian,Ukrainian,Belarusian,Serbian andMacedonian.
Turkish
TheTurks constitute the largest minority group in the country. The Turks in Bulgaria are descendants ofTurkic settlers who came fromAnatolia across the narrows of theDardanelles and theBosporus following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, as well as Bulgarian converts to Islam who became Turkified during the centuries of Ottoman rule.[6][7]
Roma
TheRomani constitute the second largest minority group in the country. The Romani in Bulgaria are descendants ofRomani nomadic migrants who came fromIndia across the narrows of theDardanelles and theBosporus, in the late 13th century[8] and following the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and also during the five centuries of Ottoman rule.[8][9]
Other
Other minority languages spoken areRussian,Ukrainian,Armenian,Tatar,Greek,Romanian andAromanian (the latter two often collectively referred to as "Vlach" in Bulgaria).[citation needed]
According to a Eurobarometer survey conducted in 2024,English was the most commonly known foreign language in Bulgaria (29% claimed workable knowledge of it), followed byRussian (14%), and German (5%).[10]This is a decrease of 9 points for Russian since the previous survey in 2012.[11] This is because many of the people who learnedRussian at school are from an older generation and some are now deceased or as time has elapsed, have forgotten how to speak the language. When asked which two languages, other than their mother tongue, would be the most useful for children to learn in their future, an overwhelming majority of respondents saidEnglish (81%), withGerman coming second (20%), andRussian andSpanish jointly third (7% each).[10]
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{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) The majority of the 9.8% who did not answer this question were among the young.