site.btaBulgaria Ranks Third in EU for Bathing Water Quality in 2025

Bulgaria ranked third in the European Union for bathing water quality in 2025, with 96.9% of its bathing waters assessed as being of excellent quality, according to the latest annual report of the European Environment Agency (EEA), published on the European Commission's website on Tuesday.

Cyprus topped the ranking with 100% of its bathing waters rated excellent, followed by Greece with 97.1%.

The assessment covered both coastal and inland bathing waters and was conducted in the 27 EU Member States, as well as Switzerland and Albania. The report evaluates water suitability for bathing by monitoring bacteria that can potentially cause serious illnesses.

According to the report, the vast majority of bathing waters across the European Union were of excellent quality in 2025.

At the lower end of the ranking in terms of the share of bathing waters rated excellent were Poland (58.7%), Estonia (56.9%) and Albania (16.8%).

The report notes that these figures do not mean that waters in those countries are unsuitable for bathing. In Albania, for example, alongside the 16.8% rated excellent, 38.1% of bathing waters were assessed as being of good quality, 23% as sufficient, and another 23% as poor.

The assessment is based on monitoring data from more than 22,200 bathing sites across Europe reported to the EEA for the 2025 bathing season.