The villages in Bulgaria are dying a slow, but steady death: Passing through them one can see the remains of a former life on the countryside; one abandoned house is followed by the next ruin. Approximately 3 out of 4 Bulgarians now live in urban areas; the remaining villages are mainly consisting of the elderly inhabitants, which will soon also leave their home place.
Besides the beautiful scenery in which many of Bulgarians villages are located, the fallen apart houses destroy the landscape. The roofs are long gone, windows are smashed and here and there one can see traces of life, as old furniture that was left behind. Only 50 years ago close to 5 million people lived in the rural areas, surrounded by scenic mountains. Today less than 2 million people remain on the countryside and the decline continues steadily.
"However, there is a tendency for getting back to rural places, but it's evident only near big cities," says Vanya Kraleva, Senior Assistant Professor at the University of Economics in Varna. Among other things she is researching on voluntary simplifiers, that want to live without being overwhelmed by duties, materialism and future plans. "There are a growing number of people who recognize the meaningfulness of materialism and consumerism but it is far from being a trend," Kraleva says. Still, the number of simplifiers is steadily growing in Bulgaria. "The best thing in fact is that the whole society is changing and is slowly moving to a more responsible living," Kraleva explains. It's mainly people, who understand and want to be close to the beauty on the rural parts of Bulgaria, people that try to live more natural and flee from the hectic and loud civilization in the ever-growing capital Sofia.