Sofia Ranked among EU Cities with Low Unemployment

Three Bulgarian cities rank among the EU cities with the lowest level of unemployment, according to Eurostat data about the urban population on the territory of the EU.

Bulgaria's capital, Sofia and the Black Sea cities of Varna and Burgas occupy front position in the EU ranking of cities with low unemployment, with Sofia scoring 1.1%, Burgas 2.4% and Varna 2.6%.

The EU cities of Birmingham, Breda, Tallinn and Ljubljana also register low unemployment.

According to data of Bulgaria's National Statistical Institute (NSI), approximately 2.6 million men and around 2.7 million women lived in Bulgarian cities by end-2011.

Sofia was estimated as the most populated city, with over 1.2 million of officially registered citizens.

Bulgaria's second biggest city, Plovdiv, had a population of over 500 000 people, followed by Varna with around 400 000 people.

Around 40% of the EU 27 population lives in predominantly urban regions, according to data of the EU's statistical office.

Eurostat notes that there are 323 cities on the territory of the EU with a total population of over 127 million, according to a survey cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

The two most populous cities in the EU are London and Paris, which host 12.5% f the population of the United Kingdom and 10% of the population of France, respectively.

Only four EU capitals have more than 3 million inhabitants – London, Paris, Berlin and Madrid.

Another 20 EU cities (11 of them capitals) have a population of 1-2 million people.

The biggest cities in the EU, which are not capitals but have a particularly dense population, are Hamburg (1.8 million) and Barcelona (1.6 million)

Apart from capital cities, the largest cities in the EU are Hamburg (1.8 million) and Barcelona (1.6 million).

According to Eurostat data, it is easiest to find a job in the EU cities of Munich, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Prague, Amsterdam and Warsaw, where over 50% of the respondents say that they can rely on a well-paid job.

On the other side of the ranking are cities where only 10% of the respondents believe that it is easy to find a job – Naples, Palermo, Malaga, Riga and Miskolc.

The slightest financial difficulties are experienced by the people living in Luxemburg, Malmo, Graz, Copenhagen and Stockholm, where only one in ten respondents gives that answer.

50% of the citizens of Sofia, Athens, La Valletta and Palermo admit that they are having financial difficulties.

The citizens of Naples and Riga are the most dissatisfied with their financial situation – at over 50% of the population unhappy about their condition.

The highest rates of population aging are registered in 18 cities in Italy and 11 cities in Germany.

Among all EU cities in the ranking, the highest ratio of students in tertiary education to the number of inhabitants is in Rzeszów, Poland and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Air pollution is perceived as a problem in many EU cities, the highest rates of air pollution registered in Italy's Torino and Spain's Murcia.

According to Eurostat, the cleanest cities are Latvia's Riga and Norway's Bergen.