Bulgaria ranked among the five European Union member states with the most hives on farms in 2020, with around 0.9 million – Spain had just over that number, Italy and Greece had 1 million each, while Romania had more than any other EU country at 1.5 million, according to Eurostat figures released on Friday on the occasion of World Bee Day on May 20.
At the regional level, Bulgaria had the most cells in the North Central region (210,980), followed by the North-East region (192,930), the South-East (181,260), the North-West (147,570), the South-Central region (94,820) and the South-West region ( 45,210).
In total there were 8.1 million hives on EU farms. This is only a partial picture of all hives in the EU because the Agricultural Census only records beehives on farms (in some countries, like Germany, beehives are not considered part of farms).
On 5 April 2023, the Commission responded to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) "Save bees and farmers!" stating that the priority is to ensure that the proposals under negotiation on the sustainable use of pesticides and nature restoration are approved and then implemented in a timely manner. It also recognized the importance of pollinators in agriculture as a critical tool for ensuring EU food security and combating biodiversity loss.
Source: CYPE
