Eurobarometer survey: 96% of Bulgarians worried about the rising cost of living

The rising cost of living is the most pressing concern for 93% of Europeans, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey for the European Parliament published today, January 12. Support for the EU remains high, but citizens expect the Union to work on solutions to mitigate the effects of the crises.

In every EU Member State, more than seven in ten respondents are worried about the rising cost of living, with peak results in Greece (100%), Cyprus (99%), Italy and Portugal (both 98%).

In Bulgaria, the proportion of people worried about the rising cost of living is close to the highest levels with 96%. Rising prices, including energy and food, are felt across all socio-demographic categories such as gender and age, as well as across all educational and socio-occupational groups.

The second most mentioned worry with 82% is the threat of poverty and social exclusion, followed by climate change and the spread of the war in Ukraine to other countries equal in third place with 81%.

Bulgarians also ranked the threat of poverty and social exclusion and the threat of war in Ukraine spreading to other countries as second and third, with 86% and 85% respectively, while the threat of climate change trailed behind with 69%.

Citizens expect the EU to continue working on solutions to mitigate the compounding effects of the consecutive crises that have hit the continent. High support for the EU is based on the experience of past years, with the EU demonstrating a remarkable capacity to unite and to deploy effective measures. For now, citizens are not satisfied by the actions taken either at national or at EU level. Only a third of Europeans express satisfaction with measures taken by their national governments or the EU to tackle the rising cost of living.

Bulgarian respondents expressed stronger dissatisfaction than the EU average regarding the measures taken by their national government (21%), while regarding measures taken by the EU, the results were similar to the EU average (32%).

Looking at the financial situation of citizens, the survey shows that the fallout from the polycrisis is being felt increasingly. Almost half of the EU population (46%) say that their standard of living has already been reduced due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine and the cost of living crisis. A further 39% have not yet seen their standard of living reduced but expect this to be the case in the year to come, making for a rather grim outlook for 2023. Another telling indicator of growing economic constraints is the increase in the share of citizens facing bill-paying difficulties “most of the time” or “sometimes”, a nine point increase from 30% to 39% since Autumn 2021.

The data for Bulgaria on these indicators show that 53% of respondents believe their living standards have already declined and another 28% expect this to happen in 2023.

“People are understandably worried about the rising cost of living, as more and more families are struggling to make ends meet. Now is the time for us to deliver; to bring our bills under control, push back inflation and to make our economies grow. We must protect the most vulnerable in our societies”, said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.

The multiple geopolitical crises of the past years continue to present citizens and policymakers with profound challenges. With inflation at its highest level in decades, citizens want the European Parliament to focus on the fight against poverty and social exclusion (37%). Public health remains relevant for many citizens (34%) – as does continued action against climate change (31%). Support to the economy and the creation of new jobs (31%) is also high on the list.

Bulgarian respondents indicated that the main priorities of the European Parliament should be the fight against poverty and social exclusion (44%), support for the economy and the creation of new jobs (43%), public health (34%), as well as the topic of democracy and rule of law (27%), while actions against climate change were recognized by only 10% of respondents, which represents nearly 20 percentage points difference with the average levels for Europe.

At the same time, recent crises and particularly Russia’s war against Ukraine, are strengthening citizens’ support for the European Union: 62% see EU membership as a “good thing” which represents one of the highest results on record since 2007.

The share for Bulgaria on this indicator is much lower (49%), which puts it among the member states with the lowest levels on this indicator (Slovakia - 44%, Greece - 43%, and Austria - 42%).

Two thirds of European citizens (66%) consider their country’s EU membership important, and 72% believe that their country has benefited from being a member of the EU.

The data for Bulgaria show that 54% of respondents think that their EU membership is important, while 60% of them indicate that Bulgaria has benefited from its EU membership, which puts it in penultimate place among Member States on both indicators - ahead of Slovakia (48%) and Austria (55%) respectively.

In this context, “peace” makes a comeback in citizens’ minds as one of the Union’s core and founding reasons: 36% of Europeans say the European Union’s contribution to maintaining peace and strengthening security are the principal benefits of EU membership, a six-point increase since Autumn 2021. In addition, Europeans also think that the EU facilitates better cooperation among Member States (35%) and contributes to economic growth (30%).

For 53% of Bulgarians, the biggest benefit of EU membership is that the Union provides new job opportunities, putting the country in the same group as Croatia (51%), Slovakia (43%), Hungary (40%), Romania (39%), the Czech Republic (38%) and Estonia (38%). The next most important benefits of EU membership for the Bulgarians who participated in the survey are better cooperation between Bulgaria and other member states (33%), as well as maintaining peace and strengthening security (29%).

The Eurobarometer survey was conducted in October 2022 in all 27 EU Member States.

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