Every Third Bulgarian Lives Below Poverty Line - National Statistical Institute

In 2020, the poverty line for the country in total is BGN 451.00 monthly per household member. At this level, below the poverty line were 1,659,900 people, or 23.8 percent of the Bulgarian population, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) reported, quoted by Nova TV.

Compared to the previous year, the poverty rate rose by 9.2 per cent and the relative share of the poor population increased by 1.2 percentage points. At the same time, however, the social protection system is essential to reduce poverty.

Data for 2020 show that if incomes from pension are included in household incomes but other social transfers are counted out (benefits, social and family allowances and bonuses), the poverty rate rises from 23.8 to 29.9 per cent, or by 6.1 percentage points. Accordingly, when pensions and other social transfers are excluded, the poverty rate rises to 41.7 per cent, or by 17.9 percentage points.

The main factor for higher risk of falling into the group of the poor for the majority of the population is their economic activity and their position on the labour market.

For the entire observation period, the relative share of the poor was highest among unemployed people (61.1 per cent for 2020), with the risk of poverty in unemployed men 12.3 percentage points higher than unemployed women.

In 2020, the proportion of the poor among employed people in the 18-64 age group increased from the previous year by 0.7 percentage points to 9.7 per cent, with part-time workers at four times higher risk than full-time workers. At the same time, the risk of poverty among working women is 2.1 percentage points lower than for men.

The level of education has a significant impact on the risk of poverty among the employed. The highest is the...

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