Hazardous events occurred (natural disasters, accidents and crisis)

Methodology

Hazardous events occurred (natural disasters, accidents and crisis)
Contact
Contact organisation	NSI
Contact organisation unit	Regional Statistics and Geographical Information Department
Contact name	Arslan Ahmedov Maykal Gerdemski
Contact person function	Head of department Senior expert
Contact mail address	2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria
Contact email address	[email protected] [email protected]
Contact phone number	+359 02 9857 751 +359 02 9857 488
Contact fax number
Metadata update
Metadata last certified	03 December 2025
Metadata last posted	03 December 2025
Metadata last update	03 December 2025
Statistical presentation
Data description	The survey covers the number of crisis events that have occurred on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria during the reference year by categories, type of events and municipalities (LAU). Main indicators: Number of events by categories and types; Number of casulties (human fatalities and injured individuals) - absolute figures and number per 100 000 people Public expenditures for hazardous events by use and source of funding - thousand BGN, thousand EUR, % of GDP Calculation Methods Human fatalities from hazardous events per 100 000 people - The number of human fatalities is divided by the average annual population of the respective territorial unit and multiplied by 100 000. Injured individuals from hazardous events per 100 000 people - The number of injured individuals is divided by the average annual population of the respective territorial unit and multiplied by 100 000. Expenditures for hazardous events as a percentage of GDP - Expenditures by use are divided by the country's total GDP in thousand BGN (at current prices) and multiplied by 100. Data for 2024 are preliminary. The NSI’s assessment of expenditures for hazardous events in the ‘General Government’ sector for the reference year includes the following activities from Section VI of the Unified Budget Classification (UBC): Management of state and wartime reserves; Fire protection; Urgent activity to protect the population and the national economy; Defense-mobilization preparation, stockpile maintenance and capacities; Preventive activities to reduce the harmful consequences of disasters and accidents; Elimination of consequences from natural disasters and industrial accidents; Volunteer formations for disaster protection; International programs and agreements, donations, and foreign aid; Other activities for civil protection in the event of natural disasters and accidents; Geo-protection; Safety and storage of radioactive waste; Decommissioning of nuclear facilities. In the event of an extraordinary crisis during the year, additional expenditures for these events are assessed separately, beyond the activities listed above in the UBC.
Classification system	Events and hazards by type (in accordance with SENDAI); Unified Classification of the Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units in Bulgaria (ЕККАТЕ); Unified Budget Classification (UBC).
Sector coverage	Hazardous events - earthquakes, movements of land masses, volcanic activity, storms, extreme temperatures, harsh winter conditions, floods, avalanches, mudflows, droughts, fires, infectious diseases in humans and animals, including zoonoses, pest infestations, space phenomena, industrial, transport and other accidents, environmental degradation and others, including their subcategories.
Statistical concepts and definitions	Preparedness - activities (measures) to increase the knowledge and capabilities of government structures, organizations, communities and people, which help to anticipate, respond and eliminate the consequences of probable, inevitable, occurring or already happened disasters, achieved as a result of actions taken in advance - e.g. conducting trainings, exercises, training, purchasing equipment and personal protective equipment and others. Response - the actions taken immediately before, during or immediately after the disaster in order to save human life, reduce health impacts and ensure public safety and the basic needs of affected people. Disaster - significant disruption of the normal functioning of society, caused by natural phenomena and/or by human activity and leading to negative consequences for the life or health of the population, property, the economy and the environment, the prevention, control and overcoming of which exceeds the capacity of the service system for the usual public protection activities. Accident is an unpredictable or difficult to predict, limited in time and space action, with a high intensity of forces or as a result of human activity, endangering the life or health of people, property or the environment. Accident of a large scale involving roads, highways and air traffic, fire, destruction of hydrotechnical facilities, accidents caused by activities at sea, nuclear accidents and other environmental and industrial accidents caused by human activities or actions. Hazard - a dangerous phenomenon, substance, human activity or condition that can cause loss of human life, injury or other health effects, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption or environmental damage. Crisis - any situation in which a harmful event occurs, one that clearly exceeds the scale of everyday adverse events, posing a significant threat to human life and health, causing substantial property damage, or necessitating measures to supply essential goods to the population. A crisis is considered to be present when such a harmful event is deemed imminent. Armed conflicts and wars are also classified as crises. Prevention - organizational and physical activities (measures) aimed at avoiding or reducing the negative consequences of disasters, for example, building protective facilities, cleaning river beds and others. Recovery - the restoration or improvement of the livelihoods, health, economic, physical, social, cultural and natural assets, systems and activities of the population affected by the disaster in accordance with the principles of sustainable development and "build back better" to avoid or reduce future disaster risk.
Statistical unit	Occurred hazardous event - disaster, incident, accident of a large scale or crisis.
Statistical population	An exhaustive survey among municipal administrations. All events leading to human losses and material damage that occurred on the territory of the country within the reporting year.
Reference area	The whole territory of Republic of Bulgaria.
Time coverage	By different methodology: 2021 - 2024 year 2009 - 2020 year 2004 - 2008 year
Base period	Not applicable.
Unit of measure
number number per 100 000 people thousand BGN thousand EUR
Reference period
Calendar year.
Institutional mandate
Legal acts and other agreements	Statistics Act; National statistical program; Disaster Protection Act, promulgated, SG No. 102 of December 19, 2006; Technical Guidance for Monitoring and Reporting on Progress in Achieving the Global Targets of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, Collection of Technical Notes on Data and Methodology, UNISDR, 2017.
Data sharing	The data is provided according to the Rules for dissemination of statistical products and services.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality - policy
Confidentiality - data treatment	The dissemination of individual data is carried out only in accordance with Art. 26 of the Statistics Act. According to the Statistics Act and European legislation, individual (primary) data of budget enterprises are confidential.
Release policy
Release calendar	Data are published according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.
Release calendar access	The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://old.nsi.bg/bg/node/488
User access	The data are published on: Under the heading "Hazardous events occurred (natural disasters, accidents and crisis)" at NSI's website. Under topic "Multi-Domain statistics" in Information System INFOSTAT
Frequency of dissemination
Yearly.
Accessibility and clarity
News release	Yearly.
Publications	-
On-line database	https://www.nsi.bg/bg/node/19887
Micro-data access	Anonymized individual data (in the context of the research - at the municipal level) can be provided for scientific and research purposes upon individual request according to the Rules for provision of anonymized individual data for scientific and research purposes https://old.nsi.bg/bg/node/575/.
Other	An information service could be provided by request, according to the NSI Rules for dissemination of statistical information products and services https://old.nsi.bg/bg/node/564/
Documentation on methodology	Survey methodology (Bulgarian version only) - https://www.nsi.bg/bg/node/19887
Quality documentation	-
Quality management
Quality assurance	Includes strict arithmetic and logic input control.
Quality assessment	Standard quality assessment criteria (applicability, accuracy and reliability, timeliness, comparability and consistency) are used.
Relevance
User needs	Main users of statistical information from the research are: Ministries and agencies; Municipalities; Non-governmental and scientific organizations; Interested parties
User satisfaction	No dedicated user satisfaction surveys has been conducted.
Completeness	Not applicable.
Accuracy and reliability
Overall accuracy	The statistics have good accuracy and reliability.
Sampling error	The survey is exhaustive and no sampling errors exist.
Non-sampling error	Not applicable.
Timeliness and punctuality
Timeliness	Data are published according to the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.
Punctuality
Coherence and comparability
Comparability - geographical	Data are comparable at all territorial levels.
Comparability - over time	Partially limited, which is due to the use of different methodologies over the years.
Coherence - cross domain	Data consistency is ensured for: fires, road, railway, aviation and maritime accidents, infectious diseases (deaths and mortality by causes) drought and landslides.
Coherence - internal	Internal coherence is ensured by applying strict validation rules.
Cost and burden
NSI makes the necessary efforts to reduce the workload of the respondents. The online based Information system “Business statistics” maintained by NSI and the methodological and technical assistance provided to the respondents during the reporting campaign were highly appreciated by them and helped to reduce their workload.
Data revision
Data revision - policy	National policy allows the revision of already published data if there are serious reasons for doing so.
Data revision - practice	Revised data replaces already published data as soon as possible after the revision is made.
Statistical processing
Source data	Municipal administrations; For road accidents - Ministry of Interior; For railway accidents - National Railway Infrastructure Company; For aviation and maritime accidents - National Board for aircraft, maritime and railway accident investigation; For fires - AIS 'Accidents - fire safety and civil protection' of the Ministry of the Interior; For landslides - Register of landslide areas, Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works; For infectious diseases (for 2021 and 2022) - survey 'Deaths and mortality by causes' of NSI; For extreme temperatures - estimates by NSI, based on data from the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology; For hazardous events with a declared state of emergency - General Directorate Fire Safety and Civil Protection, Ministry of Interior; For animal diseases - Bulgarian Food Safety Agency; For droughts and water shortages - NSI survey 'Public Water Supply, Sewerage and Treatment'; Financial data on public expenditures - NSI’s 'Public sector expenditures' study, based on data from the Ministry of Finance; Annual report on the implementation of the state budget, Ministry of Finance; Law on the state budget of the Republic of Bulgaria; Report on the expenditure of subsidy and capital transfer funds, Bulgarian Red Cross.
Frequency of data collection	Yearly.
Data collection	Data are based on the annual reports presented in NSI by the municipal administrations. In addition, surveys carried out by NSI and administrative sources are used. The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) is the source for the data on "landslides", Fire Safety and Protection of the Population Directorate General - Ministry of Interior, for the data on "fire accidents", Ministry of Interior, for the data on "road accidents", National Railway Infrastructure Company, for the data on "rail accidents", National Board for aircraft, maritime and railway accident investigation for the data on "aviation and navigation accidents", for the data on droughts and water shortages - NSI survey "Public Water Supply, Sewerage and Treatment" and for the data on animal diseases - Bulgarian Food Safety Agency.
Data validation	Data validation is done through: arithmetic and logic control of input data; a comparability check against the data collected from the additional sources of information.
Data compilation	Observation is exhaustive and no further evaluation of the data is done.
Adjustment
Comment
Events occurring at a nationwide scale, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, are considered a singular event for the country but are still counted in each district (NUTS3).

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Hazardous events occurred (natural disasters, accidents and crisis)

Hazardous events occurred in 2023