Protect yourself
Why winter?
Most fine particles in Bulgaria come from heating homes: wood and coal stoves. That is why the air in towns and villages is dirtiest in winter.
Bulgaria has the EU's highest death rate linked to fine particles: 158 premature deaths per 100,000 people.
You and your children
- Check "When to go out" on the home screen: walk, run and air the room in the hours with the cleanest air.
- Keep the windows shut in the hours with the dirtiest air.
- Children, older people and people with asthma, heart or lung disease are more sensitive. Choose "Children, elderly, asthma" on the home screen to see advice for them.
- If you start coughing or your eyes or throat sting, cut down on hard exercise outdoors. That is the European Environment Agency's advice.
Someone burning rubbish?
Plastic, tyres and rubbish in a stove pollute the air of the whole street. Report it to the municipality's ecology department, or to the regional environment inspectorate (РИОСВ) through the environment ministry's green phone.
Green phones of МОСВ and РИОСВ (in Bulgarian)Someone can't breathe?
Don't wait for it to pass. Call 112.
Call 112