site.btaDefence Minister Zapryanov Comments on Military Personnel Salary Increase

Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov told journalists that there is a threefold to fivefold increase in candidates for military service and military personnel. Zapryanov is participating in a hearing at the parliamentary defence committee on Wednesday.

At the end of January, by order of Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov, the base for determining the basic monthly remuneration for the lowest position of the servicemen in the Ministry of Defence, the structures directly subordinate to the Minister of Defence and the Bulgarian Army is set at at BGN 2,296, From January 1, 2025, the basis for determining the amount of the average monthly salary for the lowest position will be formed each year based on the average salary for the country for the second quarter of the previous year, Parliament decided in April 2024. 

Zapryanov noted that the newly calculated salaries for January have been payed out. All officers of all ranks received a 30% increase, sergeants received up to a 33% increase, and certain individual categories received a higher percentage increase. It is normal for the increase to be more substantial for soldiers, since the shortage of soldiers is the greatest, Zapryanov commented.