Bulgaria's Center for Demographic Policy (CDP) has compiled a ranking of the absurdities in the sphere of science for the new Minister of Education, Science, and Youth Stefan Vodenicharov.

The ranking of the CDP lists the problems from a demographic point of view.

CDP Chair Iskren Veselinov, as cited by Darik radio, hopes that the Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, now headed by "a renowned Bulgarian researcher and patriot", will succeed to introduce positive developments in such an essential social sphere at the end of the government's term in office.

The first item on the ranking of the CDP draws attention to the fact that Bulgaria has the highest illiteracy rate in the EU.

The CDP cites data of the European Commission indicating that 41% of Bulgarian students are not fully literate.

Bulgaria ranks 53rd by literacy rate in 2012, after Kyrgyzstan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, and Tonga.

According to an EC report under the 012 - 2015 Convergence Programme, Bulgaria has the EU's highest share of people with reading difficulties.

According to CDP data, the share of illiterate Bulgarians is at 50-60%.

According to official statistics, 41% of Bulgaria's population of up to 16 years of age are illiterate.

According to data of Bulgaria's Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, nearly 70% of the unemployed are completely illiterate.

Bulgarian is a foreign language for many students, with over half of the students in 1,2, or 3 grade having another mother tongue and experiencing difficulties learning Bulgarian, according to statistics of the Education Ministry.

Meanwhile, the CDP ranking notes, the IQ level of Bulgarians is falling dramatically and Bulgaria falls behind Mongolia and Kazakhstan.

According to CDP data, Bulgaria ranks 47th among 113 countries by IQ level.

Excellent students in Bulgaria are only 2.8%, compared to 14.5% in France.

The third point in the CDP ranking emphasizes that 38% of Bulgarians fail to complete the degree they started.

The fourth argument of the CDP is that Bulgaria fails to provide an equal start, equal rights, and equal opportunities in education.

Points 5 to 10 in the CDP ranking say that higher education in Bulgaria has been commercialized to an absurd degree, agents of the Communist-era State Security (DS) service are university rectors and ministers, there is a fake diploma industry, academic titles are being bought, the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency keeps opening useless universities, while the system produces useless specialists, there is proven evidence of corruption in the allocation of public funding for scientific research, there is an obligation for parents to send their 4-year-olds to kindergartens, and Bulgaria is the poorest and the most illiterate EU state.