Bulgaria, Romania 'Worst for Families' in Europe

Bulgaria has the most families facing difficulties in making ends meet, as high as 63.4% of total population, the report, Family Pressure Gauge, reveals. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

Families in Bulgaria and Romania are the most pressured of all 27 European Union member states, making the two countries the worst places in Europe to raise children, a new survey has shown.

Financial and work pressures, combined with poor maternity and paternity provision, as well as poor living environments put Bulgarian families among the most pressured in Europe, according to a study released by the British Relationships Foundation.

Bulgaria has the most families facing difficulties in making ends meet, as high as 63.4% of total population, the report, Family Pressure Gauge, reveals.

In Bulgaria 3.85% of births were to women aged 15-19, the highest percentage in Europe.

Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Austria and Slovenia are the only other countries where more than 5% of households with dependent children have a highly critical debt burden.

Bulgarian families pay the most for energy – 7.05 PPS per unit of the combined fuels. They are followed by families in Sweden (6.42 PPS per unit) and Hungary (6.09 PPS per unit).

Looking at the percentage of employed individuals who think it is very likely or quite likely that they will lose their job in the next 6 months, the report found that Bulgarians are by far the most insecure about their jobs.

More than one in five (22.2%) Bulgarian workers thought it is "very likely" or "quite likely" that they would lose their job in the next six months.

The Bulgarians also experience great inflexibility as to the possibility to adapt working hours within certain limits - nearly all employees (96.4%) are not allowed to adapt working hours within certain limits, the report says.

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