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 is a further levels of geographic organisation - the local administrative unit (LAU). In Bulgaria, the LAU 1 is municipalities and the LAU 2 is settlements.
Overall
NUTS Levels
Local Administrative Units
Below the NUTS levels, the two LAU (Local Administrative Units) levels are:
The LAU codes of Bulgaria can be downloaded here: [1]
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
^"Revision to the Irish NUTS2 and NUTS3 regions". cso.ie. Archived from the original on 2018-11-13. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
^Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2066 of 21 November 2016 amending the annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)
^S. Okov. Bulgaria May Redraw Regional Borders to Maintain Flow of EU Cash. Bloomberg, 26 February 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)
^Regional Development (Amendment) Bill. Council of Ministers: Portal for Public Consultation, 4 October – 6 November 2018 (in Bulgarian)
Sources
Hierarchical list of the Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics - NUTS and the Statistical regions of Europe
Overview map of EU Countries - NUTS level 1
BULGARIA - NUTS level 2
BULGARIA - NUTS level 3
Correspondence between the NUTS levels and the national administrative units
List of current NUTS codes Archived 2012-02-27 at the Wayback Machine
Download current NUTS codes (ODS format) Archived 2015-07-16 at the Wayback Machine