Ethnic-specific and ethnic-nonspecific factors for ethnicity non-identification in Bulgaria

Kaloyan Haralampiev, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"
Dimitar Blagoev, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

The issue of ethnicity non-identification in Bulgaria occurred after 2011 Census, when, for the first time in its 130-years’ history, 9.3 percent of population did not answer the voluntary question on ethnicity. In our previous papers we discussed several factors related to specificity of ethno-cultural composition on local level. When developing our argument we faced new research questions which framed the formulation of new hypotheses to be verified. In this paper we present the development of our analysis focusing on ethnic specific and ethnic nonspecific factors for ethnicity non-identification in Bulgaria. Using cluster analysis and analysis of associations we study the levels of dependencies between the share of ethnicity non-identification and the following socio-demographic and socio-economic factors on regional level: age; household composition in terms of household size; number of children in the household; education; in-country migration; cross-border migration; and the structure of economic activity, employment and unemployment. Our analyses show that ethnicity non-identification is, at large, not a question of individual decision based on the right of non-self-identification and its practicing, but is dependent – although at different extent in different cases – to regionally-specific sets of socio-demographic and socio-economic factors, which turn out to be ethnic-specific and ethnic-nonspecific.