Trade Union: ? of Bulgarian Households Below Poverty Threshold

23.3% of households in Bulgaria live below the poverty threshold, according to Nikolay Nenkov from the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB).

Nenkov gave a press conference Monday to present a report on the cost of living in June 2014.

The cost of living per member of a 4-member household (2 adults + 2 children) in end-June 2014 reached BGN 559.95, or a total of BGN 2240 for the household per month for food, healthcare, education, holidays, according to average Bulgarian standards, according to reports of the BGNES news agency.

In the second quarter of 2014, the cost of living dropped by 0.6% from the previous quarter, and on an annual basis it fell by 0.7%.

Around 80% of Bulgarian households still live on an income of less than BGN 559.95 per household member.

The average salary in the first three months of 2014 stood at BGN 796.

Against that backdrop, labor costs in Bulgaria continue to be the lowest in the EU.

Violeta Ivanova from the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research explained that the cost of living had increased by 22.6% in the past 7 years, with the increase in food products amounting to 26% and the increase in non-food products at 19.5%.

Unemployment increased from 2008, with the number of unemployed  persons aged 15+ in the first quarter of 2014 up by around 205 000 compared to the same period of 2008, and the unemployment rate climbing to 13% from 6.5%.

The total income per household member increased by 20.7% in real terms in the period 2008-2013 but in the first quarter of 2014 there was a decrease by 3.3% in real terms compared to the last quarter of 2013.

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