Nearly half of working Bulgarians with primary or no education live below the poverty line. This is shown by the data of the National Statistical Institute (NSI) for 2025, presented on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which we celebrate on October 17, quoted by Dariknews.bg.
The day reminds of the need for global action against extreme poverty and social injustice.
Eradicate poverty is the first of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (UN). To track progress on these, a national list of 215 indicators has been developed in Bulgaria, based on statistical data from the National Statistics Institute and indicators used by Eurostat.
How does education affect poverty?
The NSI data reveal serious differences in the share of working poor depending on the level of education completed.
The situation is the worst for workers with primary or no education. In 2025, as many as 47% of them lived below the poverty line, while 53% were above it.
Among people with primary education, the share of working poor reaches 36%, while the remaining 64% are above the poverty line.
The risk is significantly lower for workers with secondary education. Only 11% of them fall below the poverty line, while 89% are above it.
The situation is most favorable for people with higher education. Only 4% of working university graduates are below the poverty line, while the remaining 96% are above it.
Thus, the difference between working university graduates and those with primary or no education reaches 43 percentage points.
Statistics show that the share of working poor among people with the lowest educational level is nearly 12 times higher than that among university graduates.