The Old Age Pensions in Bulgaria

The paper presents an analytical overview and systematizes the changes in the Bulgarian old-age pension system in the period 1990-2004 on the basis on their “depth” as the full transformation of the model is the watershed. Three change periods are designated and evaluated from the point of the view of their nature and scope. The paper then assesses whether and how far some main objectives of the pension reform have been achieved by examining some parameters of the reformed pension model such as pension level, coverage of insured persons, income replacement rate, provision of more adequate link between insurance contribution and pension rights, financial standing of the Pension Fund, etc. Lessons from the Bulgarian practice and major challenges ahead of the pension system development are outlined.