Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria
Bulgaria: Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax was 0.4914 in 2023. ▲ Rising
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria, 1980–2023
Source: World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
Analysis
In 2023, income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria stood at 0.4914.
That represents a change of down 2.1% on the previous year and up 15.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria peaked at 0.5017 in 2022 and was at its lowest, 0.2494, in 1988.
That places Bulgaria 65th out of 109 countries with data for 2023, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 36 years of available data.
Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria, year by year
| Year | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 0.2848 | — |
| 1981 | 0.2818 | -1.1% |
| 1982 | 0.3053 | +8.3% |
| 1983 | 0.2959 | -3.1% |
| 1984 | 0.2951 | -0.3% |
| 1987 | 0.2512 | -14.9% |
| 1988 | 0.2494 | -0.7% |
| 1989 | 0.2796 | +12.1% |
| 1990 | 0.3058 | +9.4% |
| 1993 | 0.3819 | +24.9% |
| 1994 | 0.4293 | +12.4% |
| 1995 | 0.4676 | +8.9% |
| 1996 | 0.4493 | -3.9% |
| 1997 | 0.4376 | -2.6% |
| 1998 | 0.4293 | -1.9% |
| 1999 | 0.4001 | -6.8% |
| 2000 | 0.3933 | -1.7% |
| 2001 | 0.4072 | +3.5% |
| 2002 | 0.4267 | +4.8% |
| 2003 | 0.4145 | -2.9% |
| 2006 | 0.4343 | +4.8% |
| 2009 | 0.4262 | -1.9% |
| 2010 | 0.4245 | -0.4% |
| 2011 | 0.4284 | +0.9% |
| 2012 | 0.4489 | +4.8% |
| 2013 | 0.4266 | -5.0% |
| 2014 | 0.4434 | +3.9% |
| 2015 | 0.4511 | +1.7% |
| 2016 | 0.4809 | +6.6% |
| 2017 | 0.5002 | +4.0% |
| 2018 | 0.4973 | -0.6% |
| 2019 | 0.4824 | -3.0% |
| 2020 | 0.4755 | -1.4% |
| 2021 | 0.4877 | +2.6% |
| 2022 | 0.5017 | +2.9% |
| 2023 | 0.4914 | -2.1% |
Bulgaria compared with similar countries
- Bulgaria's 0.4914 is above the median for high income countries, which is 0.3617, 1.4× the median. (43 countries reporting)
- Bulgaria's 0.4914 is above the median for Europe & Central Asia, which is 0.3666, 1.3× the median. (42 countries reporting)
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 0.2804 | 0.2494 | 0.3053 | 8 |
| 1990s | 0.4126 | 0.3058 | 0.4676 | 8 |
| 2000s | 0.417 | 0.3933 | 0.4343 | 6 |
| 2010s | 0.4584 | 0.4245 | 0.5002 | 10 |
| 2020s | 0.4891 | 0.4755 | 0.5017 | 4 |
Countries ranked near Bulgaria
More poverty & inequality data for Bulgaria
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 8 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.75 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 5,224 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 1.41 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 29.97 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 30.0% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria?
- Income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax in Bulgaria was 0.4914 in 2023, according to World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax recorded in Bulgaria?
- The highest recorded value was 0.5017 in 2022.
- What is the lowest income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax recorded in Bulgaria?
- The lowest recorded value was 0.2494 in 1988.
- How does Bulgaria rank for income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax?
- Bulgaria ranks 65th out of 109 countries with data for 2023.
- Is income inequality: gini coefficient before and after tax rising or falling in Bulgaria?
- Over the last ten years it is up 15.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Bulgaria data come from?
- The figures come from World Inequality Database (WID.world) (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Income inequality: Gini coefficient before and after tax. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 36 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
The Gini coefficient measures inequality on a scale from 0 to 1. Higher values indicate higher inequality. Inequality is measured here in terms of income after taxes and benefits.