Bulgaria stays among EU's cheapest countries as price gap narrows

Recent Institute for Market Economics data covering 2021‑2025 shows Bulgaria remains one of the EU’s lowest‑priced members, together with Romania at roughly 63‑65 % of the EU‑27 price‑level index, more than a third below the bloc average.

The gap has been shrinking since the pandemic and the inflation surge after the war in Ukraine, accelerating convergence. While housing, rents and utilities are still about 41 % of EU levels and healthcare around 46 %, other categories have caught up: communications prices are at 101 % of the EU average and food and non‑alcoholic beverages at about 93 %.

Sectoral differences mean convergence is uneven; some items such as oils and fats (≈142 % of EU) and dairy (≈126 %) remain above the average. Overall trend shows Bulgaria’s price index rising from the low‑50 % range in the 1990s to just over 60 % in 2023 and continuing upward in 2025.