The pension roadmap is back on the agenda

The long-awaited roadmap for improving Bulgaria’s pension system – which was discussed throughout 2025 but which no one ever saw – is back on the agenda. At a briefing at the Ministry of Social Affairs Minister Natalia Efremova stated that officials will conduct a review followed by proposed measures.

We remind you that talk of such a roadmap first began last spring when the National Assembly gave six institutions – including the Ministries of Finance and Social Affairs, the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC), the National Revenue Agency (NRA) and others – six months to draft the document. By the end of 2025 no such document existed.

Throughout the year then-Social Affairs Minister Borislav Gutsanov repeatedly warned that the issue must be discussed carefully because the pension system is “extremely conservative” and that one cannot speak of reforms, but rather of improving the current model.

Subsequently on December 1, 2025 Gutsanov did begin to speak of reforms but he postponed them until 2026. Economic.bg additionally sought clarification from the relevant ministry under the Access to Public Information Act (APIA) but did not receive a response.

Subsequently the government resigned, a caretaker cabinet took office and the issue of the pension system took a back seat.

The need for changes to the pension system has been discussed for years, given that for quite some time now half of pension expenditures have been financed by transfers from the state budget. The problems do not end there — there is also a demographic crisis, an aging population, informal employment and ever-rising pension costs. Additional pressure on the system comes from the annual indexation of pensions under the so-called “Swiss rule,” which, in addition to not being strictly adhered to, is often modified.

Elsewhere at the briefing Efremova emphasized that the top priority at the moment is drafting the 2026 budget. She assured that the adoption of the new budget will ensure all social payments to children, people with disabilities and pensioners.

According to the minister about 800 000 people receive the minimum pension, and the total number of pensioners in the country is over 2 million.

Translated with DeepL.