The positive attitude of Ukrainians towards Bulgaria decreased to 42.7%, almost half take a neutral position — study

The positive attitude of Ukrainians towards Bulgaria in August 2026 decreased compared to the previous wave of the survey: 42.7% of respondents rated the country positively, compared to 53.8% in March. At the same time, Ukrainians with a neutral attitude became the largest group — 47.6%, reports the information and analytical center Experts Club.

According to the results of August survey, 11% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude towards Bulgaria, 31.7% are mostly positive. 47.6% of respondents take a neutral position. A mostly negative attitude was expressed by 6.8%, a completely negative attitude by 0.6%, another 2.3% could not decide.

Thus, the total share of negative evaluations is 7.4%, and the balance of positive and negative attitudes is plus 35.3 percentage points. Despite the decrease in positive indicators, favorable evaluations of Bulgaria almost six times outweigh negative ones. At the same time, almost every second respondent expresses neither a positive nor a negative attitude towards the country.

Compared to March 2026, the changes are quite noticeable. In the previous wave, 14.2% of respondents had a completely positive attitude towards Bulgaria, another 39.6% had a mostly positive attitude. The overall positive rate was 53.8%, neutral - 42.4%, while negative ratings were only 2.3%. 

For five months, the share of positive responses decreased by 11.1 percentage points. — from 53.8% to 42.7%. The negative attitude increased by 5.1 percentage points. - from 2.3% to 7.4%, and neutral - by 5.2 percentage points, to 47.6%. The balance of positive and negative ratings decreased from approximately plus 51.5 percentage points. in March up to plus 35.3 percent. in August.

At the same time, the category "mostly positive" decreased the most - from 39.6% to 31.7%, while the share of completely positive responses decreased from 14.2% to 11%. Therefore, the deterioration of indicators occurred simultaneously due to the growth of both neutral and negative segments.

The founder of the Experts Club information and analytical center, Candidate of Economic Sciences Maksym Urakin previously drew attention specifically to a significant share of uncertain or neutral perception of Bulgaria.

"Such a result shows not so much indifference as the lack of an active presence of Bulgaria in the information field of Ukraine," Urakin said. According to his assessment, the problem lies not so much in the formed negative image, but in the insufficient visibility of the country for the Ukrainian audience. More active communication of economic, humanitarian and other practical cooperation could contribute to the formation of a more defined attitude.

A new wave of research partially confirms the relevance of this assessment: the neutral group has again approached half of the respondents. At the same time, in contrast to March, the share of negative responses also increased, although it still remains significantly lower than the positive.

The survey was conducted in August 2026 by the method of self-completion of online questionnaires in the SunFlowerSociology panel among 800 citizens of Ukraine aged 18 and over. The previous March wave also included 800 respondents; the sample was representative in terms of age, gender and region, the maximum theoretical error for indicators at the 50% level was ±3.5 percentage points.