In Bulgaria, 32% of the population struggles to "make ends meet," according to Eurostat, the European statistical service. This indicator reflects whether households have sufficient financial resources to cover their monthly expenses with their available income. Individuals assess their household's financial situation by choosing from responses like "with great difficulty," "with difficulty," "with some difficulty," "relatively easy," "easy," and "very easy."

Eurostat released data for seven EU countries: Bulgaria, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, and Finland. Among these, Bulgaria's situation is the most concerning. In Bulgaria, 32% of people find it "with great difficulty" or "with difficulty" to make ends meet. In comparison, the percentages for Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, and Finland are 16.7%, 20.8%, 24.2%, 15.7%, 22.2%, and 11.9% respectively.

Conversely, Bulgaria has the smallest proportion of people who have no trouble covering their monthly expenses. Only 6.4% of respondents in Bulgaria indicated they "easily" make ends meet, and just 0.6% manage the family budget "very easily." Thus, only 7% of Bulgarians have no problems with family expenses. By contrast, in Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Slovakia, and Finland, the percentages of those who "easily" and "very easily" make ends meet are 20.1%, 26.4%, 9.8%, 22.3%, 6.4%, and 37.4% respectively.

In all the countries monitored by Eurostat, people with higher education manage the family budget more easily than those without education. In Austria, Belgium, Finland, and France, nearly one in three individuals with a high level of education can easily or very easily make ends meet. This share is significantly smaller in Bulgaria, Italy, and Slovakia. Among people with low education, the proportion that easily or very easily makes ends meet is limited to 10% in most observed countries, except France (26.1%) and Finland (33%). It's evident that higher education can significantly improve a household's ability to make ends meet.

Additionally, Bulgarians are the least happy among the inhabitants of the countries included in the Eurostat study. In Bulgaria, only 49%, or less than half of the population, feel happy, with 9.9% happy all the time and 39.1% happy most of the time. Meanwhile, the share of people who are happy all or most of the time in Belgium, Austria, Slovakia, and Finland are 63.9%, 60.8%, 59.3%, and 64.7% respectively.