Bulgaria's poverty line to be set for 2025

At a meeting today, the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation will discuss a draft decree of the Council of Ministers setting the country's poverty line for 2025, submitted by the Minister of Labour and Social Policy.

The government proposes an increase of 21.3%, raising the poverty line to 638 BGN (326.2 EUR). The authorities expect that a reduction in inflationary pressures will lead to an increase in the purchasing power of vulnerable groups and an increase in household consumption.

However, one of the largest trade unions in Bulgaria, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), disagrees with the proposed amount and suggests that it should be 667 BGN (341.03 EUR).

The union explains that the poverty line in Bulgaria is determined by the Eurostat study "Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)", which is based on old income data from two years ago, or in this case, the poverty line set by Eurostat reflects income levels from 2022, while it will be applied in 2025. Therefore, a corrective indexation is necessary to take into account the accumulated inflation based on current data.

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold is updated annually; for the current year it is BGN 526 (EUR 268.94).