SETTING THE OFFICIAL POVERTY LINE FOR THE COUNTRY AS A CHALLENGE FOR SOCIAL POLICY IN BULGARIA

This study aims to determine whether the use of the official poverty line for the country as a tool for regulating access to social protection programs in Bulgaria and determining the amount of support has enhanced their effectiveness in reducing poverty, improved the adequacy of benefits, and broadened access to minimum income schemes. In this regard, it has been found that certain features of the method of setting the official poverty line make it difficult to achieve the expected results and create conditions for the relative impoverishment of recipients of social payments, access to and amount of which are linked to the poverty line. To overcome this challenge, it is proposed to improve the information availability on the poverty level and review the method of determining the poverty line in order to include an objective measure of minimum living needs.