Measuring Poverty in Bulgaria

The analysis of poverty is based on the statistical information from “Multi-topic Household Survey (MHS)” – a survey carried out in 2003 as a collaboration of the National Statistical Institute, the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and the World Bank. The paper presents a detailed interpretation of the statistical information and the basic characteristics of the aggregates “Net income” and “Consumption”, used in poverty evaluation. Poverty is studied by applying the three widely used approaches (absolute, relative and subjective) and related methods. The critical evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the particular approaches and methods helps select a poverty line, suitable to our conditions. The obtained results are compared to the results from previous and similar studies in European countries.