SOFIA, Bulgaria — In Germany, the arrival of an expected one million migrants this year is being sold to sometimes reluctant citizens, in part, as a way to inject more economic vigor into an aging country whose population is expected to decline 8 percent in the next few decades.

For the former communist nations of Eastern Europe — where populations are shrinking even faster and economies are struggling — the influx of migrants would seem to be a perfect fit.

But not if you ask the people here.

“No, I would not say there is a great feeling here that we should attract more immigrants,” said Ivailo Kalfin, Bulgaria’s deputy prime minister for demographic and social policies. “The feeling is there are too many immigrants, not too few.”

Such is the paradox of the migration crisis for Eastern Europe. Even as the region stares at the most dire demographic implosion on the Continent, it has proved the most resistant to accepting migrants.