Population

The population of the Vidin district is 131,215 people, of which 63,650 men and 67,565 women. 77,422 people live in the towns and 54,088 - in the local villages.

There are 139 towns and villages in the district, administratively divided in 11 municipalities (Vidin, Bregovo, Novo Selo, Dimovo, Roujintsi, Belogradchik, Boynitsa, Chuprene, Gramada, Makresh, Kula).

The town of Vidin is the main administrative, economic and cultural center of the district, located on the Danube River with a population of 57,614 people.

Over one half of the population is in working age, and about one fourth is between 20 and 39 years of age. (Preliminary data of the 2001 census)

Labor Resources

Typical of the Vidin district is the highly qualified and motivated labor force. The population in working age is 51,800 people and the employment rate in the region is 27,7%. In terms of human resource development, the Vidin district occupies one of the leading places in the country .( This is a complex indicator of regional development based on welfare, life expectancy, access to education and GDP per capita.)

The prevailing part of the population is employed in the processing and mining industries; agriculture; construction; trade, services; light industry; transport; education and healthcare.

The restructuring of local industries has lead to a significant increase in the unemployment rate among the highly educated and qualified part of the labor force. The unemployment rate in the Vidin district is slightly above the country average - 20,6%.

Social Infrastructure

The educational infrastructure in the region includes 58 schools, amongst them 8 secondary vocational schools specialized in Management, Commerce, Construction, Technical Sciences, Transport, Chemistry, Agriculture, Textiles and Catering, and two special-profile high-schools specialized in Natural Sciences and Foreign Languages.

The number of students in the district during the 2000/2001 academic year adds up to 15,465.

Since the beginning of the 1999/2000 academic year the schools in the district have been included in a Phare funded project on the financial management of secondary education. The Phare 2000 program for the improvement of vocational training envisages improving the school facilities as well as developing re-training programs for teachers. The project ends in 2007.

In 2000 a New Bulgarian University distance-learning branch was established in Vidin. For the 2000/2001 academic year 30 students were enrolled in Economics and Business Administration studies. Next year there will also be an Environmental Science class.

There are 11 healthcare institutions, including 3 hospitals, 7 medical and 1 dental center. Lots of specialists provide high quality healthcare services to the population - 92 GPs, 86 specialists, 107 general dentists and 7 specialists.