Bulgaria ranks first in the EU in terms of highest risk of poverty

One in five Bulgarians, or 21.7% of our compatriots, is at risk of poverty. This puts our country in first place in the European Union (EU) as the country with the highest risk of poverty.

This is shown by data from the European statistical service Eurostat, published on Thursday. The data is for 2024 and is based on income from 2023.

According to the data, Latvia and Lithuania follow us with minimal differences of 21.6% and 21.5%, respectively. The EU average is 16.2%, which remains unchanged from the previous year.

In 2023, our country ranked fourth in terms of poverty risk in the EU. At that time, 20.6% of the population was at risk of poverty, or 1.1 percentage points less. Romania ranked first at that time.

The countries with the lowest risk of poverty in 2024 are the Czech Republic (9.5%), Belgium (11.5%), and Denmark (11.6%).

This indicator does not measure wealth or poverty in absolute terms, but rather low income compared to other residents of a given country, which does not necessarily mean a low standard of living," Eurostat explains.

According to the statistical service's guidelines, the at-risk-of-poverty rate is the share of the population with equivalent disposable income (after social transfers) below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. This threshold is defined as 60% of the national median equivalent disposable income after social transfers.

Translated with DeepL.