Almost Half of the Bulgarian Pensioners Live at Risk of Poverty

According to Eurostat, every third Bulgarian lives at risk of poverty, with the highest percentage of people over 65 years of age – 46%. Residents of the city of Rousse are not an exception. According to the data of the territorial division of the National Social Security Institute, the average monthly pension in Rousse district for the last year was 324 BGN (162 Euro).

82-year-old Milka Georgieva gets the minimum monthly amount of 200 BGN (100 Euro) plus the supplement from her deceased husband's pension, which is 60 BGN (30 euro). She envies younger pensioners because they can work and earn additional money to live normal life. She says she lives alone and has to deprive herself from a lot of things in order to survive.

"I buy only products at reduced prices, it is poverty, I wear only old clothes- everything I wear is old. Milka explains she uses only solid fuel for heating because she cannot afford to pay for electricity. “I have no teeth, I need dentures but cannot afford them.

According to elderly people, in order not to live on the brink of poverty, the minimum pension should be 500 BGN (250 Euro). Ivan Ivanov lives on 300 BGN and instead of buying a festive dinner for the recent holidays, he saves to pay local taxes.

"We have celebrated the recent holidays in the most scarce way, we had beans and lentils on Easter, on St. George's Day ...”, he said.

It is expected that from 1 July the minimum pension will increase to BGN 207. The second group, for which Eurostat also reports poverty indicators, is young people under the age of 17, who are about 42%.