According to data published in the CIA World Factbook, Bulgarian population has dropped below 7 million people.

The data was refering to the middle of 2014, and showed that Bulgarian population in fact amounts to 6,724,716 people. According to the CIA website, the information has been gathered based on population census, migration processes, life expectancy and others.

Curiously enough, the information regarding the same period that was released by the National Statistical Institute is quite different. According to NSI, the population of Bulgaria is 7,245,677.

Both statistical surveys, nonetheless show that the population is progressively decreasing. High mortality rate, low birth rate and migration are among the main factors contributing to the negative results.

Bulgaria's death rate is shockingly high with 14.3 deaths per 1,000 people, thus ranking the country at number 6 out of all 255 listed countries.

In terms of life expectancy, Bulgaria takes the 112th spot, coming after most European countries, but still scoring better than Estonia, Armenia and Turkey. Male life expectancy is approximated at 70.74 years, while women's is considerably longer - 78.13 years.

Additionally, the population's median age is 42,6 year old, with 42,4% of the people being in active age - between 25 and 54 year old. Thus, the negative tendency for increase in the number of the elderly population is kept.

The full report on Bulgaria is available here.