Bulgarians are seeing the year off with a little bit more optimism and accumulated confidence that they can change their lives for the better. This is the conclusion from a social survey by Alpha Research on “Stocktaking on the threshold of the new year. Normalization and more optimism”, sociologist Boriana Dimitrova says.

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“During the outgoing year a number of crises were overcome, others merely changed shape, still others emerged,” Boriana Dimitrova commented for the BNR. She cited as an example the Covid pandemic which society has recovered from, and has returned to normal life. Furthermore, after three years of political instability and a string of snap elections, the country now has a regular government even though the incessant scandals surrounding it deepen the crisis of trust in the institutions, the political leaders and parties. Boriana Dimitrova cited the continuing war in Ukraine and the new war between Israel and Hamas as newly emerged crises.

In conclusion, the sociologist says that the assessment of the outgoing year in this country are better than the assessment of the previous year. “Bulgaria is weary of being the eternal pessimist – of Europe and of the world,” she added.