Deputy PM: Half of Bulgarian Pensioners Live Below Poverty Line

Bulgarian Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo Kalfin said during the parliamentary control on Friday that more than half of Bulgarian pensioners live below the poverty line.

Kalfin stated that at the end of 2014 over 1 228 000 people or 56.4 % of Bulgarian pensioners lived below the poverty line.

This means that these people subsist on pensions and the bonuses pertaining to them, which amount to less than BGN 286 per month.

Kalfin made the statement in a response to a question posed by nationalist Ataka MP Ilian Todorov, Darik radio reports.

Todorov insisted on the adoption of his party's legislative proposal to raise the minimum pension to BGN 500.