Bulgaria had the most unequal incomes in the European Union in 2025, according to Eurostat data on income and living conditions (table ilc_di12) published on 23 October. Its Gini coefficient is 37.7, against an EU average of 29.2.

The gap is 8.5 points. Bulgaria's figure was 38.4 in 2024, so it has improved, but it is still last. The EU average also fell, from 29.4 to 29.2.

The Gini coefficient shows how unevenly income is spread in a country, compared with a perfectly equal split. The scale runs from 0 to 100. At 0, everyone has the same income. At 100, one person has all of it. Eurostat works it out from disposable income, which is the money people have left after taxes and welfare payments.

Latvia (35.6) and Lithuania (35.5) have the next most unequal incomes. Estonia scores 30.9, better than its two Baltic neighbours.

Incomes are most evenly spread in Slovakia, with a coefficient of 23.0. Belgium (23.4), Czechia (24.0), Slovenia (24.6) and Poland (24.9) follow.

Eurostat also tracks the share of people at risk of poverty, meaning those whose incomes fall below a line fixed in 2019. Across the EU, that share was 16.5% in 2019 and is 13.0% in 2025.

Bulgaria is among the countries with the biggest improvement. Its share of such people has fallen by 15.3 percentage points to 7.3%. Only Romania recorded a bigger drop, of 17.4 points, to 6.4%.

A commentary on the data says the 8.5-point gap points to lasting problems for Bulgaria's social and economic policy. A higher standard of living does not automatically mean a more equal society, especially when the gains from growth are shared unevenly.

The two measures track different things. Poverty risk against a fixed line shows how many people have incomes below a set level. The Gini coefficient shows the overall gap between incomes. So a smaller share of poor people does not necessarily mean the gaps between households are shrinking. The commentary says cutting poverty and sharing income more fairly are separate tasks for Bulgaria.

In 2025, the typical European had 22,638 a year, measured in purchasing power standard, a unit that evens out price differences between countries. This is the median equivalised disposable income per person: half of people get more, half get less. Of that sum, 6,274 comes from welfare payments, including pensions.

The commentary says the payments show how much state support matters for incomes. But EU-wide data alone cannot show whether they work well in each country.

Benefits and allowances other than pensions come to 1,694.