Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Cost of living goes up, purchasing power plunges

Photo: BGNES

1,479 Leva (EUR 756) was the monthly salary needed for the subsistence of one working individual at the end of 2021, showdata of the Confederation of Independent Trade Union’s Institute of Social and Trade Union Research.

The sum has gone up by 130 Leva (EUR 66) compared to 2020. Almost two-thirds of workers in the country have an income below the subsistence level. The net monthly income needed for two adults and a child of 14 is 2,066 Leva (EUR 1,056), an increase of 180 Leva (EUR 92) year-over-year. Within the space of one year, food prices have gone up by 9.8%.

“The minimum salary lost its purchasing power in 2021, and it would not re-gain it with the new state budget as it is set down,” says the Institute’s director Lyuboslav Kostov. 



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

To the sound of sirens, Bulgarians pay tribute to Hristo Botev and all people who have laid down their lives for Bulgaria

At 12 noon today, to the sound of sirens, people around the country paid tribute to the memory of revolutionary poet Hristo Botev and all people who have laid their lives for the freedom of Bulgaria, by standing still in the course of 2 minutes...

published on 6/2/25 1:53 PM
Rosen Zhelyazkov and Kristalina Georgieva

The adoption of the euro will start a new chapter for Bulgaria’s economy, PM Zhelyazkov says

At a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov stressed that the country is on the eve of the adoption of the Euro, which will start a new chapter for Bulgaria’s economy...

published on 6/2/25 1:20 PM

Post offices in small towns and villages will convert Leva to Euro free of charge for 6 months

More than 2,000 post offices in small towns and villages will exchange Leva for Euro from the day Bulgarian joins the Eurozone, Stanimir Belinov, deputy director of Bulgaria’s national postal service Bulgarian Posts said for the BNR. Every customer..

published on 6/2/25 12:48 PM