The activity rate of Bulgarian population aged 15 - 64 was 70.4% in the third quarter of 2015 and remained the same as in the third quarter of 2014, show the data of Bulgaria’s National Statistical Institute.

The employment rate of population aged 15 - 64 was 64.5%, by 1.7 percentage points above its value for the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The unemployment rate was 8.3%, 2.5 percentage points lower compared to the same quarter of 2014.

There were 1,399,300 economically inactive persons aged 15 - 64, accounting for 29.6% of the population in the same age group. 157,500 of them (11.3%) were discouraged persons. The number of discouraged persons (aged 15 - 64) decreased by 17,400, as compared with a year ago.