site.btaSome 23% of Bulgarians Lived Below Poverty Line in 2016

Some 23% of Bulgarians Lived Below Poverty Line in 2016

Sofia, June 22 (BTA) - In 2016, the average monthly poverty line for the country was 308.17 leva per capita, the National Statistical Institute said on Thursday. Some 22.9 per cent of the population, or 1, 638,700 lived below the poverty line.

Year-on-year, the poverty line decreased by 5.4 per cent and the share of poor population increased by 0.9 percentage points.

The social protection system contributes considerably to the poverty decrease. According to 2016 data, if income from pensions were included into household income and social transfers were excluded, the poverty level would increase from 22.9 per cent to 27.9 per cent, or 5 percentage points. And respectively, if pensions and social transfers were excluded, the poverty level would increase to 45.5 per cent, or 22.5 percentage points.

The main factor influencing the risk of poverty for the prevailing part of population was economic activity and participation in the labour market. For the observed period, the share of poor was highest among the unemployed (54.6 per cent) and the risk of poverty for unemployed men was by 6.7 percentage points higher compared with unemployed women.

In 2016, the share of poor among the employed persons increased from the previous year by 3.8 percentage points to 11.6 per cent. The risk of poverty for part-time workers was four times higher than for those working full-time. At the same time the risk of poverty among working women was 3.5 percentage points lower than among working men.