As much as 24% of all apartments in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia are currently empty, according to Sofia news agency Novonite.

Despite the continuous internal migration within Bulgaria to the big cities, the number of uninhabited dwellings in the capital is exceptionally large. The report also states that things are not much better in other Bulgarian cities, with 30% of apartments empty in Varna, and 26% empty in Plovdiv.

The report drew data from a new Eurostat demographic map of the European Union, which was published last week.

These estimates are close to the findings of a World Bank report commissioned by the Bulgarian regional ministry and published in early November last year, which found that nearly 1.2m homes in Bulgaria are uninhabited. This is approximately one-third of the total number of homes in Bulgaria.

In the large cities, an average of a quarter of the dwellings are uninhabited, but in rural areas the percentage is far higher - an average of 43%.

The report adds that over 75% of apartments in Sofia are buildings that were built over 30 years ago (during the communist reign) and are not in good condition.