Almost Half of Bulgarians Live Below Poverty Threshold – Survey

File photo.

A total of 49.3% of all Bulgarians live below the poverty threshold, a survey by Greek statistical institute EL.STAT shows.

Greece ranks fourth among EU countries in terms of the highest percentage of citizens living on the poverty line, Bulgarian Telegraph Agency informs.

According to the EL.STAT data, some 34.6% of Greeks, or 3,795,100 people lived in poverty last year. The situation is worse in Bulgaria - 49.3%, Romania - 41.7% and Latvia - 36.2%.

The indicator of poverty in Greece has been constantly increasing since 2010, when the country received the first foreign capital injection due to the financial crisis, Greek media noted.

The EL.STAT reports that the other EU countries that have reached the poverty line due to loans were Ireland, Spain, Cyprus and Portugal.

The five countries with the lowest poverty rate in the EU 28 are the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg.

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