The end of the year is usually marked by numerous polls on the attitude shown by people in the sending of the old one and the welcoming of the new 2018. Data of the Trend research centre has attracted special attention this year, claiming that in between the two years nearly 60% of the Bulgarians are happy, but the same percentage remain unhappy with their financial state. The research marks strong dependence of happiness on age – the happy people rate is higher among youth and the numbers go down with aging. The ones saying that they are happy are usually enjoying higher income and education.

Barely 10% of the polled express some sort of dissatisfaction with life. At the same time over 60% of the Bulgarians are not happy with their living standard at this point. What’s most disturbing is that 54% do not expect any change in the situation over the next year. The optimists, declaring positive change expectations are 21% and the radical pessimists are 16% - they think that their living standard will get worse in 2018. The expectations for a change in the standard of living also depend on age – young people /18 – 39/ are quite more optimistic than the ones, aged over 60 – 2/3 of those expect no change. The poll registers a feeling of security in regard with the polled person’s working place and with the ones of the relatives. Only 8% of the participants expect cuts, affecting any of the family’s working members, while 9% think they are likely to lose their job over the next 12 months. At the same time Trend clarifies that 37% of the polled are not actively working, as the greatest share of these people are retired. Each 5^th Bulgarian claims that he or she has money saved, while 50% say that their life would be good if they received a monthly wage of EUR 500 – 1,000. Analysts comment that the salary required is more like adequate to the labor market realities. A quarter of capital Sofia’s residents want monthly income exceeding EUR 1,250.

One more accent from the research – in case of personal security issues, over 1/3 of the Bulgarians wouldn’t turn to the police, but to their relatives. 58% of the polled state their trust in the police at the solving of such problems.

Edited by: St. Pavlov

English version: Zhivko Stanchev