CITUB: A total of 2,748 leva is needed for monthly support of a three-member family (updated)
The income needed for support is increasing by 0.4% on a quarterly basis and by 5.1% on an annual basis, according to data from the survey by the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research of the CITUB
The necessary net monthly income for support of a three-member family (two adults and one child up to 14 years old) in Bulgaria is 2,748 leva as of the end of the second quarter of 2025. A working person living alone needs 1,526 leva of net monthly income. This is according to data from the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB). The union presented the results of the monitoring of consumer prices and the living wage at a press conference.
The income needed for support increases by 0.4% on a quarterly basis and by 5.1% on an annual basis.
Compared to the same period last year, in 2025, 133 leva more is needed to support a three-member family and 73 leva more for a single worker.
This statistics shows a sustainable and significant growth in the necessary funds, said the president of the CITUB, Plamen Dimitrov, quoted by BTA.
According to CITUB data, a worker should receive 1,967 leva in gross monthly remuneration to cover his needs, he pointed out. In his words, Sofia even needs more money. For a working parent in a three-member family, his income from work should be no less than 3,541 leva gross in order to provide the necessary means for the maintenance of the entire household, Dimitrov also commented.
In May 2025, over 1.5 million people had an insured income below the gross subsistence wage out of a total of 2 million 643 thousand insured persons. According to Dimitrov, there is an increase in wages, and our country continues to have the lowest level of wages among the other EU member states.
Food prices are increasing almost twice as much as the average at the European level, said Violeta Ivanova, deputy director of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research and Training (ISSIO). In Bulgaria, food prices are increasing by 6.3%, while at European levels the growth is 3%, she pointed out. A more serious increase was observed in bread, bakery products and cereals, as well as in eggs and dairy products. A 1.4% increase was recorded in food products on a quarterly basis. In coffee, tea and cocoa (by 6.9%), fruit and canned fruit (by 6%), meat and meat products (by 2.1%), eggs (by 2.1%), fish and fish products (by 2%). No decreases in food prices were observed on an annual basis in any group of items, commented Ivanova. The group of non-food goods and services in the last quarter recorded a decrease of -0.3%, with a growth of 3.6% on an annual basis.
Ivanova added that according to Eurostat data for Harmonization and Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), Bulgaria reports 2.9% inflation, outpacing the growth of the average levels for the European Union, which report a growth of 2.2%. The union continues to insist on the transposition of the Directive on adequate minimum wages and the Directive on transparency in pay. The development of a definition and methodology for the official measurement of the living wage, and the minimum wage to be brought closer to its level, is another request of the CITUB.