P rez 2023 the total poverty line for the country is BGN 637.92 per person per month on average from a household. At this size on the line, 1,325.9 thousand people, or 20.6% of the population, were below the poverty line On the side. Compared to the previous year the size of the poverty line increases by 21.3%and the relative share of the poor population decreased by 2.3 percentage points, NSI reported.
The social protection system is essential for reducing poverty. The data for 2023 shows that if pension income is included in household income, but other social transfers (benefits, social and family allowances and supplements) are excluded, the poverty rate rises from 20.6 to 28.5%, or by 7.9 percentage points. Accordingly, when pensions and other social transfers are excluded, the poverty level rises to 45.3%, or by 24.7 percentage points.
In 2023 the lowest poverty line is observed in the regions of Montana and Vidin – 446 and 466 BGN respectively, and the highest – in the region of Sofia (the capital) (990 BGN), followed by the districts of Varna (736 BGN), Pernik (716 BGN) and Kyustendil (702 BGN). The highest relative share of the poor compared to the poverty line for the district is in the districts of Stara Zagora – 25.8%, Kyustendil – 24.6%, Sofia (capital) – 22.2%, and Dobrich – 22.0%.
Source bgnes
The lowest relative share of the poor is in Gabrovo – 7.6%, Smolyan – 9.6%, Yambol – 10.7%, and Shumen – 10.9%. The poverty line for 2023 increased compared to 2022 in all districts, except for Yambol, where a decrease of 9.5 percentage points was reported. The regions with the greatest increase are Vratsa (by 42.5%), Sliven (by 27.7%), Smolyan (by 26.8%), Haskovo (by 26.2%), Blagoevgrad (by 25.9%) and Shumen (by 25.0%). In 2023, the Smolyan region has the lowest relative share of poverty for men – 7.9%, and the highest level is the Dobrich region – 25.1%. In the Gabrovo region, women have the lowest poverty rate – 6.5%, at 28.3% for the Kyustendil and Stara Zagora regions.
The relative share of women living at risk of poverty is greater by more than 5 percentage points compared to the relative share of men in the regions of Targovishte, Kyustendil, Sofia (capital), Pernik, Pleven and Stara Zagora. In four districts – Silistra, Vidin, Dobrich and Shumen, the relative share of poor men is greater than that of women by more than 5 percentage points. The main factor increasing the risk of falling into the group of poor for the majority of the population is their economic activity and their participation in the labor market.
Over the entire observation period, the relative share of poor people aged 18 and over is highest among the unemployed (56.8% in 2023), with the risk of poverty for unemployed men 12.0 percentage points higher than for unemployed women. In 2023, the share of the poor among the employed in the age group 18 – 64 increased compared to the previous year by 1.7 percentage points – to 11.7%, and the risk of falling into poverty is approximately three times higher for those working part-time for full-time workers. At the same time, the risk of poverty among working women is 2.5 percentage points lower than that of men.
Source bgnes
The level of education has a significant impact on the risk of poverty among employed persons. The relative share of the working poor with primary and no education is the highest – 66.5%. As the level of education increases, the relative share of the working poor decreases by two times for those with primary education and more than six times for those with secondary education. The share of the working poor with higher education is the lowest – 3.2%.Estimates of poverty by household type show that the relative share of the poor is highest among two-adult households with three or more children (55.2% in 2023) and one-parent households with children (42.8% in 2023 .). Among single-member households, the risk of poverty for women is 2.0 percentage points higher than for men.
If there is one person over 65 living in the household, the risk of poverty is 11.8 percentage points higher than a household with one person under 65 living. Since 2015, a question on the ethnicity of individuals has been added to the main survey questionnaire in response to the growing need for information, including poverty estimates, for households by ethnicity.
Respondents self-identify their ethnic group. The answer to this question is voluntary, i.e. if the person does not want to indicate which ethnic group he belongs to, the answer “Does not want to answer” is marked. It was also possible to mark the answer “I do not self-identify” if the respondent could not define his ethnic group. The ethnic group of the children is determined by the parents. If the parents have a different ethnicity, the answer that the parents determine by mutual agreement is registered for the children. In 2023, the highest relative share of the poor among persons self-identified from the Roma ethnic group – 65.0%, and the lowest – among self-identified from the Bulgarian ethnic group – 14.3%. Significant differences are observed in the distribution of the poor from different ethnic groups according to their economic activity.
Source bgnes
Pensioners predominate among the poor from the Bulgarian ethnic group (45.1%), while the relative share of working people is the highest among the Turkish and Roma ethnic groups – (31.8 and 34.0%, respectively). Regarding the unemployed, the relative share of the poor unemployed among the Roma ethnic group is the highest – 30.9%, with 16.3% of the Turkish ethnic group and 13.5% of the Bulgarian ethnic group.Educational attainment has a strong influence on the risk of poverty regardless of ethnicity – for all three main ethnic groups, as the educational level increases, the risk of poverty for working people decreases.
The risk of poverty for people in the age group 18-64 with primary and no education is 14 times higher compared to the risk of poverty for persons with higher education for the Bulgarian ethnic group and over 46 times for the Turkish ethnic group. Among those who self-identified as Roma, nearly three-quarters of persons with primary and no education are poor, and among persons with higher education – 22.3% are at risk of poverty. Subjective indicators related to material deprivation are also included in the general poverty assessment indicators. They show the subjective assessment and personal attitudes of individuals and households regarding the possibilities to satisfy individual needs and wants.
Until 2020, nine questions related to the consumption of specific goods and services were used to assess household material deprivation. From 2021, a new indicator of severe material and social deprivation will be included, which indicates the lack of necessary and desirable items for leading a dignified life. It is calculated as the share of persons from the population who cannot afford 7 out of 13 indicators – 6 at the individual level and 7 at the household level.
Source: IStock
Unemployed households in the study are households whose members have not been employed in the last four weeks, i.e. all household members aged 16 and over were either unemployed or inactive. Until 2020, the indicator is calculated for persons aged 18 to 59, and from 2021 it includes persons aged 18 to 64. In 2023, 231,000 persons aged 18-64 live in households with a low intensity of economic activity, or 6.6% of the population, and compared to 2022, their relative share decreased by 1.3 percentage points, and the share of men (6.6 %) is 0.1 percentage points higher than that of women (6.5%).
In 2023, 26.9% of children aged 0-17 in Bulgaria are at risk of poverty, or 1.0 percentage point more than in 2022. Social transfers to households reduce the risk of poverty among children by 13.6 percentage points.
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Source: BGNES
