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Country guide· 20 min read

Bulgaria rankings 2026: where Bulgaria places in 124 global Top 10s

Bulgaria is #1 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education, #1 in 1 ranking and inside the top 10 of 15 rankings. Every position, value and source, regenerated as the data refreshes.

Bulgaria appears in 124 of the 491 live country rankings on Top10Earth. This guide walks through every one of them: where Bulgaria is number one, where it makes the top 10, where it sits further down the table, and what has moved since the previous snapshot. Its best position is #1 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education, where it is measured at 4 years (Duration of pre-primary education) as of 2026-11-02. Bulgaria holds the #1 spot in 1 ranking and finishes inside the top 10 in 15 rankings.

Where Bulgaria is number one

These are the rankings Bulgaria currently tops. The next country in each table is listed too, because a #1 by a whisker and a #1 by a mile are different stories.

Top 10 finishes

Bulgaria is inside the top 10 of 14 further rankings beyond the ones it leads. Each entry names the country directly above it, which is the position to beat at the next refresh.

The remaining 2 top-10 positions are in the full list at the end of this guide.

Bulgaria by theme

The rankings are grouped by category below, so the economic picture, the health picture and the environmental picture can be read separately. Positions are out of the number of countries each source reports, which differs by ranking.

Environment and energy

In environment and energy, Bulgaria holds 32 positions: #6 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of land that is protected (44.3 % of total land area), #8 of 50 in Countries getting the most electricity from nuclear power (39.12 %), #11 of 50 in Countries with the highest industrial share of water withdrawals (71.26 %) and #15 of 50 in Countries using the most coal energy per person (5,846.51 kWh per person). 28 more rankings are listed below.

Food and agriculture

In food and agriculture, Bulgaria holds 23 positions: #5 of 50 in Countries with the highest taxes as a share of cigarette price (85.27 %), #9 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of overexploited fish stocks (85.71 %), #12 of 50 in Countries with the highest barley yields (5.61 tonnes per hectare) and #14 of 50 in Countries with the most arable land per person (0.54 hectares per person). 19 more rankings are listed below.

Finance and crypto

In finance and crypto, Bulgaria holds 21 positions: #2 of 50 in Countries with the most commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults (93.84 per 100,000 adults), #9 of 50 in Countries by net capital account (3,236.84 BoP, current US$ million), #22 of 50 in Countries where the top 1% earn the largest share of income (18.32 %) and #25 of 50 in Countries with the highest income inequality (0.39 index (0-1)). 17 more rankings are listed below.

World and society

In world and society, Bulgaria holds 20 positions: #2 of 50 in Countries with the highest overall death rates (2.28 per 100,000 people), #7 of 41 in Countries with the highest share of births outside marriage (59.7 %), #9 of 50 in Countries with the highest colon and rectum cancer death rates (15.46 per 100,000 people) and #15 of 50 in Countries with the highest death rates from hypertensive heart disease (52.82 per 100,000 people). 16 more rankings are listed below.

Health and wellbeing

In health and wellbeing, Bulgaria holds 17 positions: #6 of 50 in Countries with the highest cardiovascular death rate (349.72 deaths per 100,000 people), #6 of 50 in Countries with the most hospital beds per 1,000 people (8.2 per 1,000 people), #7 of 50 in Countries with the highest share of adults who use tobacco (38.7 % of adults) and #8 of 50 in Countries with the highest bladder cancer death rate (3.71 deaths per 100,000 people). 13 more rankings are listed below.

Education and science

In education and science, Bulgaria holds 8 positions: #1 of 50 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education (4 years), #23 of 50 in Countries with the most students reaching minimum maths level (primary) (74.25 %), #27 of 50 in Countries with the most students reaching minimum reading level (primary) (92.88 %) and #37 of 50 in Countries with the longest compulsory education (12 years). 4 more rankings are listed below.

Travel

In travel, Bulgaria holds 2 positions: #38 of 50 in Most-visited countries by international arrivals (4.97 million) and #49 of 50 in Countries with the most rail travel (0 million).

Consumer tech

In consumer tech, Bulgaria holds 1 position: #36 of 50 in Countries with the most fixed broadband subscriptions per 100 people (37.02 per 100 people).

What changed at the latest refresh

Comparing each ranking's newest snapshot with the one before it, Bulgaria moved in 109 rankings:

Since the first snapshot

Top10Earth keeps every snapshot it publishes. Where a ranking has been captured at least three times, the first recorded position can be compared with today's:

Where Bulgaria ranks lowest

A guide that only listed wins would be misleading. Bulgaria's lowest current positions are 50th of 50 in Countries with the highest electric car sales share (6 %), 50th of 50 in Countries with the highest share of students from abroad (7.89 %) and 49th of 50 in Countries attracting the most foreign direct investment (4,883.02 BoP, current US$ million). Whether a low position is good or bad depends on the metric: being near the bottom of an emissions or mortality ranking is the better place to be.

Every ranking that includes Bulgaria

How to read these numbers

Each ranking measures one metric from one named source at one time, so a #3 in one table and a #3 in another are not directly comparable. Countries also report in different years: the capture date is when Top10Earth fetched the data, while the source's own year is stated on each ranking page under methodology. For a side-by-side with another country on the same measures, open any ranking and use the head-to-head links, or visit Bulgaria's entity page for the live table and rank-history chart.

Top10Earth never estimates or edits a value. Each number is fetched from its source on a schedule, hashed, stored and ranked by software, then checked by a quality gate before it is published. If a refresh fails that gate the previous snapshot stays live and a person looks at why. Every past snapshot is kept, which is what makes the rank-history charts on each ranking page possible.

Questions people ask about Bulgaria

What is Bulgaria's best ranking on Top10Earth?

#1 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education, with 4 years (Duration of pre-primary education) as of 2026-11-02.

How many rankings include Bulgaria?

124 current country rankings out of 491 on the site, including 1 ranking where it is #1.

Is Bulgaria in the top 10 of anything?

Yes: 15 rankings, including #1 in Countries with the longest pre-primary education, #2 in Countries with the highest overall death rates and #2 in Countries with the most commercial bank branches per 100,000 adults.

Where do the numbers come from?

From Our World in Data and World Bank Open Data. Each ranking page names its source, metric definition and capture date.

When was this guide last updated?

The newest snapshot used here was captured on 2026-11-02. The guide is regenerated automatically as rankings refresh.

Live table and history →

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