Bulgarians retirees predicted to increase to 27.6% in a decade

Bulgarians over 65 currently make up 23.5% of the country’s population and are expected to rise to 27.6% by 2034 and 31% by the end of 2060, according to data on the share of people of retirement age published by the National Statistical Institute.

With 23.5% of the Bulgarian population currently of retirement age, health experts say that the elderly over 65 in Bulgaria do not have guaranteed access to quality, financially accessible health, social and integrated health and social services, as the average pension in Bulgaria is €357 per month, the lowest in the entire European Union.

“Many older people in smaller and remote rural areas and large cities live without assured access to health services and long-term care,” the report states. With the ageing of the population and the high morbidity among the elderly, there will be an increasing demand for such services,” says Svetlana Gyoreva, social activities and policies expert at the NGO Caritas Bulgaria.

Almost 23% of Bulgarians live below the poverty line and are at risk of social exclusion. Bulgaria has the lowest minimum wage in the EU—€465 per month. The ageing population and labour shortage are cited as reasons for the relatively low level of foreign investment in recent years—between €1 billion and €3 billion per year.

National statistics show that in many small and remote settlements, older people have no access to medical care, a GP, a pharmacy, or any other form of health care.

In the larger Bulgarian cities, which have relatively good infrastructure, it is difficult and often impossible for the elderly to travel independently to hospitals and other public facilities.

Pensioners’ low incomes prevent them from receiving quality healthcare and rehabilitation or having a personal assistant.

“Due to the lack of professional care in the home environment, there is an increasing tendency to rely on informal caregivers such as family and relatives to look after their elderly loved ones. It is the informal carers who are beyond the reach of any institutional support in Bulgaria,” said Gyoreva.

Dr Nadezhda Todorovska of the Bulgarian Red Cross said there was a need for integrated health and social services, allowing the elderly to be linked more quickly to general practitioners.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)

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