Almost one-third of the people who work in Bulgaria pay minimum wage social security contributions, or below, according to the National Social Security Institute. That is the reason why pensions in the country are low, they say.

In April the total number of people in Bulgaria with social security was a mere 2.775 million, the rest are children, young people, pensioners, unemployed, housewives, or people who are not looking for a job. 30% pay social security on monthly incomes of below 330 euro, 724,000 people – on monthly incomes of between 330 and 509 euro. This means that 1.584 million people, or over 57% of all people with social security pay contributions for a monthly income of below 509 euro. The number of pensioners in the country is over 2 million. That is the reason why there is always a deficit in the budget of the National Social Security Institute and a large portion of the pensions are paid out of the state treasury, i.e. with taxpayers’ money.