site.bta84% of Bulgarians Subsist on Wage or Pension Only

As many as 84% of Bulgarians subsist only on income from employment and/or pension, the Trend Research Centre found in a survey conducted between December 1 and 7, 2023 among 1,008 respondents aged 18 and over. The survey was commissioned by Finance Academy.

An overwhelming 90% of those polled said they do not invest, and just 7% invest, compared to an EU average of 24%. Those who do not save money are 73%, and 22% are savers. Just 7% believe that higher taxes will improve their quality of life.

While 29% of respondents assess their personal standard of living as rather low, 52% see it as average, and 4% say they enjoy a rather high standard of living.

Slightly over half of those polled (55%) do not use online banking, and 44% don't; 16% say they would use electronic money instead of cash.

Those who expect their lives to stay unchanged during the new year are 39%, while 32% are rather optimistic and expect their standard of living to improve.

"The survey results show that Bulgarians do not invest, the vast majority of them do not save and are unconcerned about their long-term financial peace of mind and better living. They count on living from wage/pension to wage/pension and do not take care to raise their standard of living. Effective action is needed to improve financial literacy in order to achieve an average European standard of living, or otherwise we will continue to trail the rest of Europe in these terms," Finance Academy Executive Director Georgi Zahariev said, quoted by the organization in a press release.

"People in the developed countries are already aware that achieving financial peace of mind and well-being is not a function of wage earning but of adequate personal financial knowledge, skills, and financial assets building and management," Zahariev pointed out.