site.btaBulgarians' Incomes Increase 190% in Last 10 Years

The average total income per capita has increased 190% or 1.9 times over the past ten years from BGN 4,814 in 2013 to BGN 9,008 in 2022. Real household income also increased during the surveyed period. The index increased by 1.4% in 2022 compared to 2021. The highest value of the index was 146.2% in 2022 compared to 2013, show data published by the National Statistical Institute. 

During the 2013 - 2020 period the income of the richest 10% of persons in households exceeded about 8 times the income of the poorest 10%, in 2021 this ratio decreased to 7 times, and in 2022 - to 6 times. The highest income inequality measured with the Gini coefficient was observed in 2013 - 0.324. After that a downward trend was observed and the coefficient dropped to 0.295 in 2016. In 2017 the coefficient increased to 0.300, in 2019 it went up to 0.306, then decreased again to 0.259 in 2022. 

The household expenditure followed an upward income trend during the 2013 – 2022 period. The total household expenditure in 2022 was 1.9 times higher than 2013 and increased by 19.1% compared to the previous year. 

During the 10-year period expenditure on food and non-alcoholic beverages average per capita increased nominally from BGN 1,480 in 2013 to BGN 2 529 in 2022. The relative share of these expenditures varied during the period. The highest share of food and non-alcoholic beverages within the total expenditure (33.2%) was observed in 2013. During the following years this share started decreasing, reaching the lowest value in 2021 - 29.2%. 

The nominal income and expenditure average per capita increased almost twice between 2011 and 2022. The index of the real total household income for the surveyed period increased by 79.1% in 2022 compared to the base year 2011, while the index of the real total expenditure increased by 80.5%.  The price index increased by 55.2% for the same period. In 2022, compared to 2021, the real income increased by 1.4%, the real
expenditure - by 3.3% and prices increased by 18.2%.