The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) is a geocodestandard for referencing the subdivisions of Bulgaria for statistical purposes.[1] The standard is developed and regulated by the European Union.[2] The NUTS standard is instrumental in delivering the European Union's Structural Funds. The NUTS code for Bulgaria is BG and a hierarchy of three levels is established by Eurostat. Below these are a further level of the geographic organisation - the local administrative unit (LAU). In Bulgaria, the LAU 1 is municipalities and the LAU 2 is settlements.
Some of the present NUTS II regions of Bulgaria no longer meet the relevant technical requirements, mostly due to general population decline and increasing regional disproportion. A 2013 study by FLGR Consult commissioned by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works analyzed the state and trends of change in the characteristics of these regions to identify several options for the pending redrawing of the NUTS II map of the country. The process was restarted in 2017 with certain modified versions considered, and final decision due by the end of 2018.[3][4] The relevant Regional Development (Amendment) Bill, released for public consultation by the Council of Ministers in October 2018, is based on a four-regions version chosen from the shortlist of three options developed by an inter-ministerial working group led by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.[5]
Proposal option 1
Proposal option 2 underlying the Regional Development (Amendment) Bill of October 2018
^L. Ivanov. NUTS II Regions of Bulgaria: Proposal submitted to the inter-ministerial working group on the development of options for the redrawing of Bulgarian NUTS Level 2 Boundaries. Sofia, November 2017 (in Bulgarian and English)
