site.btaPensions in Bulgaria Account for 7.95% of GDP in 2021 - Eurostat

Pensions paid in Bulgaria in 2021 accounted for 7.95% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Eurostat reported on Tuesday. For the same year, EU member states disbursed a total of EUR 1,882 trillion in pension payments, equal to 12.9% of EU’s total GDP. Despite a 2.8% increase in overall pension expenditures compared to 2020, their ratio to GDP has decreased by 0.7%, previously standing at 13.6%. 

Pension expenditures vary significantly among member states. The ratio is highest in Greece, where it reaches 16.4% of GDP, followed by Italy at 16.3%, Austria at 15.0%, and France at 14.9%. Ireland allocates merely 4.5% of its GDP to pensions, the lowest proportion among European nations. It is followed by Malta with 6.4%, Hungary at 7.0%, and Lithuania, which spends 7.1% of its GDP on pension funds.

In 2021, 27.2% of European residents were pension recipients, with old-age pensions comprising the majority at 79.9%.