The government proposes to raise the poverty line by 126 leva to 764 leva from January 2026, which is an increase of almost 20 percent. "As an EU member state, we are committed to adopting the poverty line every year, related to the socio-economic changes in the country", said former Social Minister Hristina Hristova in the studio of "Bulgaria Morning" on Bulgaria ON AIR.
According to her, the poverty line is important because it determines many other payments - payments under the Law for People with Disabilities, monthly social benefits and targeted heating benefits.
"We have a very serious income problem. "Bulgaria is in last place in the EU in terms of income, minimum wage," economist Julian Voinov commented on Bulgaria ON AIR. According to him, there is a big problem - on the one hand, the level of income is low and the state is taking certain steps, including on the basis of European legislation, to increase these incomes to some guaranteed minimum.
"But on the other hand, there is an increase in these expenses and so we are in first place in the EU in terms of growth in the minimum wage and the poverty line," the economist emphasized. He explained that in this way, incomes begin to outpace economic growth.
"At some point, this increase in all kinds of incomes and social payments leads not to helping people, but to increasing inflation," Voinov warned.
The economist pointed out that Bulgaria also has a problem with the pension system, as the huge number of people who are below the poverty level are pensioners. The elderly who currently receive a minimum pension are about 500 thousand people.
"At the same time, we see that there is a need to increase teachers' salaries because of the problems that this class has," the economist emphasized.
Kristina Hristova is of the opinion that there will always be people who live at risk of poverty. "In Bulgaria, the share of people is about 20-23 percent, such is the average percentage for European countries," she said.
"It is good that for four years somewhere the benefits have been taking into account the poverty line. The poverty line is increasing by 126 leva, we have this old problem, which is that wages in Bulgaria, especially the minimum wage, have the highest growth in the EU, and yet we remain with the lowest incomes. This is a very difficult situation," explained the former Minister of Social Affairs.
According to Julian Voinov, the problem with the minimum wage in our country is that in certain areas it does not play a significant role, since wages are much higher.
"The problem is that in other areas of the country the minimum wage is getting dangerously close to the average wage for the respective cities. This automatically means that people compare the incomes in their locality with other localities where wages are higher. This leads to internal emigration," he is categorical.
Sofia is becoming the main attraction for the entire workforce in the country, which depopulates other areas and there is no longer any point in doing business there.
Kristina Hristova believes that a balance must be sought. "Some expenses were made on an insufficiently reasonable and competent basis, but on the basis of populism," she said, referring to some salaries in the "Security and Defense" sector, where an automatic formula for increasing salaries was given without any criteria or result.
Economist Julian Voinov added that the pension system has become a social assistance system. "The contributions that people pay and work for a pension cover 50 percent of pension costs. Everything else is paid from the budget," he explained.
According to the latest data, one million four hundred thousand people, or nearly 22 percent of the country's population, live below the poverty line. The poverty line is determined every year using a special Eurostat methodology.