I know that Bulgaria is one of the EU’s less developed countries, and it ranks near Russia on [the UN inequality adjusted human development index](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_inequality-adjusted_Human_Development_Index), but Bulgaria is in the EU nonetheless and I therefore associate it with good social safety nets, good urban planning, and a good quality of life at large.

Yet all the Bulgarians I see online (and in the media) say it is the complete opposite of this. Is life in Bulgarian really that bad? If so, how does the poor quality of life manifest itself in the day to day lives of most Bulgarians?

9 comments

  1. Short answer, no it’s not THAT bad, still shit compered to other EU countries but its pretty good, I can go anywhere I want by public transport and the road quality has improved a lot since I was younger and the only bad part is the neglected commie blocks which look like they might fall any year this decade (they won’t, I hope because they make the majority of housing in Bulgaria)

  2. When I watch any kind of documentary from an EU country about Bulgaria, regardless of what the topic is, it always starts with “Bulgaria is the poorest EU state..”. Yes it is, but I think 5 of the EU member states are also 5 top economies in the world, so we could jokingly say that Bulgaria is indeed the poorest, but in the richest union.

  3. The Bulgarians you see online are largely part of a small but growing minority of people working in the tech sector in the capital.
    For those people life is actually pretty chill as they have some of the highest purchasing power in all of the EU.
    The Bulgarians you don’t see online or abroad so much are pretty much payday loan paycheck to paycheck party animals lol.

    Very reductive, I know. Преди да сте ме нахейтили.

  4. It mostly depends on your skills, education etc. and the industry you work in. For example, if you work in a Western IT company you would be considered high middle class or something like that and you could have even better lifestyle if you were to work the same job in the West.

    Of course, not everybody is like this and it depends on where you live and other factors as well.

  5. One of your posts, posted just 10 minutes ago: “I know that Croatia is one of the EU’s less developed countries, and it by Latvia, Spain, and Italy on the UN inequality adjusted human development index, but Croatia is in the EU nonetheless and I therefore associate it with good social safety nets, good urban planning, and a good quality of life at large.” How many other subs are you planning to post this on, just changing the name of the country?

  6. For most Bulgarians life is quite similar to life anywhere else in the EU. I grew up in Bulgaria and have been living abroad since I was 18. I come from a very small town in Bulgaria, my parents never went to uni and worked regular jobs, yet they were still able to afford buying me a nice new phone, send me off to uni, buy me nice clothes for school, an expensive prom dress and even take me to the seaside for a holiday each summer, etc… They made sure I never felt like I was missing anything so I am super grateful.

    I never felt like I came from “the poorest country” – when I watched American movies and shows, I could relate to almost everything. My biggest problems growing up were having crushes on boys who didn’t like me. My parents’ biggest problems now are that their pension may be too small which is why they are paying a small sum each month for a private pension fund. Again, that is just one example and my parents are fortunate to have such “nice” problems.

    My friends and relatives are similar – most didn’t go to uni, have low paying jobs but most of them also have a house which they got from their parents which means that they do not have to pay rent every month. Most people I know in Bulgaria go to the seaside every summer – some even travel abroad.

    Of course it is very different depending on family, income, situation, etc… but it is a very regular life. The kind of life you could see in sitcoms, chill American films 😀 You have the rich, you have the middle class and you have the poor. The ones who have it worst in Bulgaria are the old, retired people because their pension is laughable. And again – not all of them have a shitty pension, but a large percentage.

  8. There are sacred places in Bulgaria with energy that can’t be duplicated anywhere in the world. Just visit Baba Vanga’s temple in the Rupis. Or a small hard to reach village in Rodopa mountain. It’s a different world.

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