National Statistical Institute

Agricultural and Forestry Accounts and Prices Department

Zornitsa Ivanova

Angelina Malamova

Head of Department

State Expert

2, P.Volov Str., 1527 Sofia, Bulgaria

-

The data are compiled in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics on agricultural input and output, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1579 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council on statistics on agricultural input and output , and the Handbook on Agricultural Land Prices and Rents.

From 2010 to 2024 inclusive, data on rental price of agricultural land have been collected through a survey covering two main groups of respondents:

•       Agricultural holdings, renting agricultural land for development of their economic activity (NACE code 01)
•       Land transactions companies established according to the National legislation specially to carry out operations (purchase, sale and rental) of agricultural land (NACE code 6810 and 6820). Only those contracts for renting of agricultural land where its purpose for agricultural production is not changed are taken into account.

As of 2025, the respondent survey has been discontinued, and data on the area and the rental price per unit area agricultural land are obtained from administrative source  – the Register of Lease Agreements maintained by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

The rental prices of contracts with agricultural land on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria for a given calendar year.

1.    Definition of the rental price of agricultural land

Rents correspond to payments made to the owner of land in return for him making assets available to another physical person/legal entity. In practice, this means the actual rent price agreed upon by the transactors including the value of related levies/taxes and including payments in kind valuated at the current year price. No distinction is made taking into consideration the duration of the renting contract/agreement and the time for contracting. Therefore, all rents for land (even if the land is rented for more than one year) should be taken into account for the calculation of average rent. The rental price of agricultural land should:

•  exclude the entitlements related to the land;
•  exclude deductible VAT;
•  exclude the rentals of buildings or dwellings situated on it and any other expenses related to other assets except the agricultural land (current maintenance expenditure on buildings, buildings insurance, depreciation of buildings, rents paid for the professional use of nonresidential buildings etc.).

2. Observed land use categories

•      Arable land - land worked (ploughed or tilled) regularly, generally under a system of crop rotation.
•      Permanent grassland - land used permanently (for five years or more) to grow herbaceous forage crops, through cultivation (sown) or naturally (self-seeded) and which is not included in crop rotation.

A contract for leases/rentals of agricultural land, registered in the relevant Municipal Agriculture Office. 

It includes all registered cotracts for leases/rentals of agricultural land in the territory of the country during the respective reference year for which valid data on price and area are available. 

The geographical coverage of the survey includes the entire territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. The data are based on all registered contracts for leases/rentals with agricultural land recorded in the information system of the Registry Agency, regardless of the location of the property.

The statistical results are published:

•         at national level;
•         by statistical regions (NUTS level 2 in accordance with the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics);
•         by districts (NUTS level 3 in accordance with the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics).

Where applicable, the data may also be presented by municipalities, subject to compliance with statistical confidentiality requirements.

The data from 2010 onwards 

Not applicable.

Euro per 1 decar leased agricultural land

Calendar year.

•       Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 on SAIO adopted on 23.11.2022, in force from 1 January 2025;
•       Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1579 of 31 July 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on agricultural prices.
•       National Law on Statistics;
•       National Statistical Programme.

Not applicable

•         Law on Statistics: https://nsi.bg/en/documents/detail/1;
•         Regulation (EC) 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20 (4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p 164) foresee that for that purpose it is necessary to establish common principles and guidelines, ensuring data confidentiality of data used for production of European Statistics and access to those confidential data with account for technical developments and requirements of users in democratic society.

http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2009:087:0164:0173:EN:PDF

Individual data shall not be published, observing art. 25 of the Law on Statistics. The dissemination of individual data is made only under Art. 26 of the Law on Statistics.

Problems with the confidentiality of data arise at lower geographic levels and for smaller categories of land, where in some cases there are separate transactions or renting of agricultural land. In this case, the data is aggregated at the higher geographic level.

The schedule for dissemination of statistical information on agricultural land prices and rents is published in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the NSI.

The Calendar is available on the NSI website: https://nsi.bg/en/calendar  

Data are published in compliance with the Chapter 5 of the Law on Statistics and European Statistics Code of Practice, considering professional independence and with aim of impartiality and transparency, where all users are treated equal.

Annual.

The press releases are published regularly on the NSI website in the year following the reference period in Bulgarian and English, together with the dissemination of the data.

The press release can be accessed at  https://nsi.bg/en/press-release/prices-of-agricultural-land-and-rents-8189

The data are published regularly on the NSI website in the year following the observation period in Bulgarian and English in the domain Statistical data/Agriculture and Forestry/Agriculture.

Data are available in IS INFOSTAT and acces was given through the NSI website:  https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/external/login.jsf

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

•        Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 on SAIO adopted on 23.11.2022, in force from 1 January 2025;
•        Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/1579 of 31 July 2023 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/2379 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards statistics on agricultural prices.
•        Agricultural land prices and rents statistics handbook

Quality report is not available.

All data are checked for completeness and compliance with the relevant statistical concepts and definitions.

The quality of the price data is monitored regularly in accordance with the framework set out in the Handbook on Agricultural Land Prices and Rents and in line with the quality definition of the European Statistical System.

The main user of data is the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Data are also provided to the business and to citizens.

No information available

All required data sets, including data at regional level are reported to Eurostat. 

Overall accuracy is not assessed.

Compliance with the accuracy of the source data is ensured through the evaluation of the methodological reliability of the price data sources and adherence to the methodological requirements.

Not applicable.

As of 2025, the average rental prices of agricultural land are calculated on the basis of data obtained from an administrative data source that covers all rental contracts.

Non-sampling errors are not quantified. The National Statistical Institute makes efforts to reduce non-sampling errors by continuously improving the methodology and data validation methods.

Data from the Survey on agricultural land prices and rents in agriculture are published according to the Release Calendar of the results of NSI statistical surveys. Data were first published on 24.04.2017.

No delays have been made with regard to deadlines for sending Eurostat data and to timetable in the Release Calendar of the results of statistical surveys conducted by the NSI.

Data on average prices are prepared at national and regional levels and are based on harmonized definitions and classifications set out in a series of regulatory documents, which is why they can be considered comparable with other EU member states.

Since the initial calculation of the average prices of agricultural land until the present, the methodology has been continuously developed and improved; therefore, a break in the time series is present as of 2025.

•        The data source for the period 2010–2024 is an annual survey with respondents, which collects information on the area of leased agricultural land, and the rental price per unit area.
•       Since 2025, administrative data on concluded agricultural land lease contracts, which are received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, have been used.

Not observed

The internal coherence of data is ensured by using the same definitions, classifications, and methods of observation.

The budget (financial resources) needed for the implementation of survey is published in the National Statistical Program on the NSI website.

According to the established policy, data revisions are made when the methodology, the classifications and definitions used are changed.

Regular revisions are carried out when the latest data from the Farm Structure Survey are available. The Integrated Farm Statistics Surveys are carried out over a certain period of time (usually three years). Land data are used as weights for weighing agricultural land prices and rents. 

As of 2025, the data sources used for the calculation of the average prices for rental/lease of agricultural land are administrative data on concluded lease contracts, which are received from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. 

Annual.

From 2025 onwards, prices of contracts for leases/rentals of agricultural land are collected from the Register of lease agreements from Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food is received annually.

Data from rom the Ministry of Agriculture and Food provide information on the value of contracts of leases/rentals of agricultural land and also include:

• the registration date,
• the type of contract,
• term of years,
• amount paid for the rental/lease contract in leva per decare.

The records contain information on:

•         type of property;
•         area of ​​the property in decares;
•         area of contract in decares.

Until 2024, data collection was offline, using an electronic questionnaire in Excel format with logical controls, which was sent to respondents by email.

The checks include rules for the automatic verification of land prices and areas. Price limits (minimum and maximum levels) are defined, calculated based on the prices from the previous year. Automatic control is performed, which involves identifying:

•        extreme values of prices,
•        extreme values of the land area involved in the transaction, using as a reference the areas by settlements from the most recent census.

Extreme values are flagged, and the corresponding records are removed.

-