The necessary funds for monthly maintenance of a four-member household, comprising two parents and two children, is BGN 2410 as of December 2018. For Sofia, the sum is almost 3200 leva. This shows the latest data on consumer prices and living expenses in Bulgaria of the Institute for Trade and Social Studies, presented by the President of CITUB Plamen Dimitrov.

The amount is needed to cover basic food, home, health, education, transportation and holiday needs in line with the average Bulgarian standards.

On average, the cost of one person in the four-member household is 602 leva. To cover family expenses, the two adults must receive at least BGN 1205.

The required funds of a four-member family in Sofia are close to BGN 3,200. On average, one person expenses are BGN 796, which exceeds the average for the country by nearly one third (32%). This means that the average wage of each adult should be at least 1600 leva.

Since the beginning of 2018, the cost of living has increased by nearly BGN 85, after a moderate growth rate has been recorded in the four monitored quarters. At the end of 2018, maintenance grew by 3.6% after the three-month pace slightly slowed down to 0.9% from the previous quarter, Dimitrov said.

For the last ten years, the increase in the cost of living is 25.3 per cent on December 2009. During this period, in nominal terms, the living cost of one person increased by about 121 leva - from 481 leva in December 2009.

During the ten-year period, the average wage for the country grew by 86.2% and in real terms by 64.9%. For some areas, the average wage gap is around one third of the average wage. This applies to the regions of Vidin, Blagoevgrad, Silistra and Kyustendil.

The Institute of Trade Unions noted that deflationary processes between 2013 and 2015 affected the overall levels of life support, but for the ten-year period there was an increase in the prices of goods and services that have a significant share in domestic budgets. Thus, a tangible improvement in the well-being of people can not be felt despite the accelerated rate of increase in labor income, experts from the Institute report.

The average net wage represents 71.9% of the required living allowance. This means that the net wage is lower by about 28% of the average needed to cover the cost of living. This gap has steadily shrunk over the years, with the backlog of nearly 50% in the same period of 2010. Despite these trends, only about 30 percent of Bulgarians receive the average or higher than the average wage, according to the survey.

According to it, the lowest paid sectors remain clothing, furniture, leather processing and medical-social services. About six times is the ratio between the average wage in the highest paid economic activity and the one with the lowest pay, reported by CITUB.

The average salary in Sofia at the end of 2018 is 1167 leva, which is about 26% less than the required salary for living. Significantly under the average for the country salary remain the low paid economic activities - 590-770 BGN.

The average increase in pensions is 3.8% in 2018. The share of pensioners at risk of poverty in the EU is 14.2%, while in Bulgaria it is 32%.

Overall, nearly 39% is the proportion of people experiencing poverty or social exclusion. Bulgaria is the last in this indicator in the European Union.

In 2019, CITUB will continue to offer the government some of the well-known policies of raising income and tackling poverty. These include changes in tax policy, including the introduction of a tax-deductible minimum. The union will insist on double-digit wage increases and upgrading to the minimum wage for education.

If the labor income is about 10 per cent a year, the union estimates that by 2022 wages in our country could reach 60 per cent of the average European level.

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