Bulgaria in the international rankings 2021

BCCI’s “Economic Analysis and Policy” Department has prepared an overview of Bulgaria’s position in some of the most popular international indices and rankings presented in 2021.

Last year, for the first time in several years, Bulgaria has improved its results in the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) and ranked 26^th (together with Greece) among the 27 EU member states. Regarding the implementation of digital technologies by Bulgarian companies, the picture is mixed compared to previous years. The state is investing in research and digital infrastructure, but their impact would increase if more businesses were encouraged to use them. Although the country has improved its performance in this index, the main priority remains the digitalization of the economy, the development of a functioning e-government and the digitalization of administrative services. Our country is also climbing to better positions in the "Venture Capital and Private Equity Country Attractiveness Index” of the IESE Business School, the Legatum Institute’s “Prosperity Index”, and the Property Rights Alliance’s “International Property Rights Index”.

Bulgaria’s position is deteriorating in some international rankings such as the “World Competitiveness Ranking” of the Institute for Management Development (IMD), the World Justice Project’s “Rule of Law Index”, and the IMD “World Digital Competitiveness (WDC)” ranking.

The country goes down four positions in the “Economic Freedom of the World” Index, compiled by the Canadian Fraser Institute. Bulgaria ranks 36^th out of 165 countries and territories, having the weakest performance in the subindex "Legal System and Property Rights". However, even though there is a decline in Bulgaria’s position in some rankings, given the economic and health situation, the country’s performance is close to the European average.

In other rankings such as Reporters Without Borders’ “Global Press Freedom” index (112^th out of 179 countries), the “Getting electricity” subindex (151^st out of 190 countries) and the “Starting a business” subindex (113th out of 190 countries) of the World Bank’s “Doing Business Report”, Bulgaria lags far behind its competitor countries.