Sofia and Gabrovo remain leaders in economic development among the districts in Bulgaria, and close behind them are Stara Zagora, Varna and Russe. In Plovdiv, more jobs are created than in the whole of Northern Bulgaria. This was made clear in the presentation of the study "Regional Profiles: Indicators for Development 2017" prepared by the Institute for Market Economics.

The worst economic regions are Pazardzhik, Vidin, Sliven, Silistra and Kardzhali.

The worst indicators in terms of living conditions are the Pazardzhik region. The main characteristic of Sliven region is the poor infrastructure and the fact that very few people have access to and use the internet.

However, according to the study, the gap between the richest and the poorest areas is not increasing, but has stabilized at one level. It is about 4.5 times, ie in Sofia the welfare is 4.5 times bigger than in the poorest region of the country.

In Plovdiv, for example, over the past 12 months, more jobs have been created than in the entire northern part of the country. Overall, 70% of jobs are opened in four areas - Sofia-city, Sofia-District, Plovdiv and Stara Zagora. In the Northwest, employment continues to be too low.

Wage growth is tangible across Bulgaria, but its rates are drastically different, economists say. More than 50% of the high-paid jobs (with a salary of over BGN 1000) are concentrated in the capital, and since the beginning of this year Sofia has been the only area with higher wages than the average for the country.

The survey also shows that in the last two years (2016 and 2017) there has been a steady rise in local taxes - to the highest degree in the taxation of real estate.

expert.bg