(ANSA) - SOFIA - In 2016 the average monthly poverty line in Bulgaria was 308.17 BGN per person. According to the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, the number of people who were below this line was 1,638 thousand representing 22.9% of the population.

The poverty line decreased by 5.4% compared to the previous year and the share of poor population increased by 0.9% percentage points. As for 2016 data, share of poor among employed people increased in 2016 compared to the previous year by 3.8% percentage points and is 11.6%. The risk of poverty is forth times higher for people working part time than for those working full-time. At the same time, the risk of poverty among female is 3.5 percentage points lower than among male. Considerable discrepancies are observed in the distribution of poor belonging to separate ethnic groups and their economic activity. Among poor belonging to the Bulgarian ethnic group prevail retired people (42.6%), while among Roma one highest is the share of unemployed (39.1%). Regarding employed, highest is the share of working poor among Turkish ethnic group (29%), compared to 28.1% working poor among Roma and 27.9% among Bulgarian ethnic groups. Risk of poverty, concludes the research, is strongly influenced by education, regardless the ethnic group. (ANSA).