Bulgaria in 2022 edition
The data for 2022 Index is mostly from 2020.
The Gender Equality Index gives the EU and the Member States a score from 1 to 100. A score of 100 would mean that a country had reached full equality between women and men.
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Progress in gender equality
With 60.7 out of 100 points, Bulgaria ranks 18th in the EU on the Gender Equality Index. Its score is 7.9 points below the EU’s score.
Since 2010, Bulgaria’s score has increased by 5.7 points, and its ranking has dropped by two places. Since 2019, Bulgaria’s score has increased by 0.8 points, mainly driven by improvements in the domain of power, but its ranking has stayed the same.
Best performance
Bulgaria’s ranking is the highest – 9th among all Member States – in the domain of power in which it scores 63.0 points. Since 2019, Bulgaria’s score in this domain has increased by 2.8 points, despite retaining its ranking at the 9th place. The country performs best in the sub-domain of economic decision-making, in which it ranks 6th. Since 2010, Bulgaria’s score in the domain of power has increased significantly (+ 17.2 points), even though its ranking has dropped by one place.
Most room for improvement
Gender inequalities are strongly pronounced in the domain of money (65.0 points). Even though Bulgaria’s score has marginally increased (+ 0.5 points since 2019), the country ranks last. Among all Member States, Bulgaria is the furthest away from gender equality in the sub-domain of economic situation (– 6.3 points, since 2010), ranking 27th. Despite improvements in the sub-domain of financial resources (+ 10.6 points since 2010), Bulgaria ranks last among all Member States.
Biggest improvement
With 56.2 points, Bulgaria has improved the most in the domain of knowledge (+ 5.8 points since 2010). Since 2019, Bulgaria’s score has improved ( + 1.0 points) and its ranking has moved up from the 22nd to the 21st place. Improvements in the sub-domain of gender segregation in education have powered this change (+ 1.3 points, since 2019). Furthermore, Bulgaria’s ranking in this sub-domain have improved from the 12th to the 10th place over the same period of time.
A step backwards
Bulgaria’s score has decreased in the domain of work (– 0.3 points), driven by a stagnating score in the sub-domain of segregation and quality of work (+ 0.7 points since 2010 and + 0.1 points since 2019), ranking 23rd among all Member States. Furthermore, the country’s performance in this domain can be attributed to significant shortcomings in the sub-domain of participation (– 1.0 points), leading to a drop in its ranking by two places, from the 10th to the 12th place.
Focus 2022: COVID-19 in Bulgaria
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Childcare was very unevenly distributed between women and men
In 2021, 41 % of women and 16 % of men reported taking care of and supervising children aged 0–11 completely or mostly by themselves. During the pandemic, 36 % of women and 24 % of men spent at least four hours caring for children aged 0–11. As such, less women (64 %) than men (76 %) with childcare responsibilities participated in social and individual activities three times a week or more.
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Women were less likely than men to rely on external support for childcare
In 2021, women were overall less likely than men to rely on external support, either formal or informal, to help alleviate their childcare responsibilities. Women (51 %) and men (58 %) were most likely to rely on grandparents and other relatives for support. Only 35 % of women relied on day-care centres or schools to alleviate their care duties, while 47 % of men did so.
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Household work fell primarily on women
In 2021, 68 % of women compared to only 8 % of men reported carrying out household chores completely or mostly by themselves, resulting in a gender gap of 60 pp (14 pp above the EU average). During the pandemic, 19 % of women and 6 % of men spent more than four hours a day undertaking housework tasks.