Eurostat

Cyprus is making steady progress in reducing the pay gap between men and women, data from the European statistical authority, Eurostat, showed on Wednesday.

According to figures for 2016, the unadjusted gender pay gap in Cyprus stood at 13.9 percent against an EU average of 16 percent, meaning that women earned 0.84 euros to every 1 euro made by a man.

In January 2018, Bulgaria had the lowest minimum wage in the European Union, 261 euros, followed by Lithuania with 400 euros and Romania with 408 euros, according to Eurostat, published today.

Bulgaria ranks fourth in the European Union by number of intentional killings. This is the latest Eurostat data for 2016, according to News.bg.

Despite the continuous internal migration to the big cities, the number of uninhabited dwellings is large. The so-called dark windows in Sofia are 24% of the dwellings. In Sofia area, they reach 48%. The percentage is also significant in Varna - 30 per cent, and in Plovdiv - 26 per cent. This is shown by a Eurostat report on the demographic map of the European Union published last week.

Eurozone unemployment fell to a new nine-year low in November thanks to strong economic growth, data showed on Tuesday, but the jobless rates differ widely across the single currency bloc.

While the Bulgarian government has gone full steam ahead with the promotion of its historic first Presidency of the Council of the EU, which starts in January, some citizens have taken to social media to voice humorous criticism of the campaign.

The ban on smoking indoors is not respected by many establishments. This shows a Nova TV report, made with a hidden camera in random places. Health inspectors who go into restaurants as secret clients have been asking if they could smoke.

People in Bulgaria buy less and less alcohol, Eurostat data show. Last year, households in Bulgaria allocated an average of 1.6% of their incomes for alcoholic drinks.

Unemployment in Bulgaria in October 2017 was 6.1 per cent, again below the European Union average, which that month was 7.4 per cent, EU statistics agency Eurostat said on November 30, Independent Balkan News Agency reported.

Greece's budget surplus last year was lower than initially estimated and its debt higher, revised data by the EU statistics office showed on Monday.

Eurostat said Greece had a 0.5 percent surplus in 2016, after a 5.7 deficit the previous year, but this was lower than the 0.7 percent initially estimated by the EU agency in April.