By 2025, every second pensioner in Bulgaria will be below the poverty line.

Starting next year, more than half of Bulgaria's elderly will receive pensions below the new poverty line. According to government plans, the poverty line will be raised from the current BGN 526 to BGN 638 on January 1, 2025.

According to data from the National Institute of Social Sciences, 333,270 pensioners currently receive pensions below the minimum level (580.57 levs), while 394,587 receive the minimum pension. Another 395,416 pensioners have incomes between 580 and 700 levs. The increase in the poverty line will impact the incomes of a significant number of citizens. This will expand the range of vulnerable groups eligible for social assistance from the state, announced Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivaylo Ivanov at a meeting of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council. The new poverty line will serve as the basis for calculating social support for people with disabilities and social payments in accordance with the Law on Social Assistance. The poverty line also affects financial assistance under the Law on Child Protection and access to the old-age social pension. Raising this threshold will strengthen social protection for those in need, allowing more families to receive assistance. Minister Ivanov noted that this change will reduce the relative poverty rate in the country by 2.3 percentage points, to 20.6%. An example of the payment increase is assistance to people with disabilities over 90%, who receive various types of disability pensions. Their financial support will increase by BGN 64, reaching BGN 363.66. Furthermore, the maximum one-time benefit for vital needs will increase from BGN 1,578 to BGN 1,914.