Етнизирана ли е бедността в България?
Is There Ethno-poverty in Bulgaria?

Summary/Abstract: Ethnic aspects of poverty and their measurements become crucial issue both at national and cross-national perspectives. Is it appropriate to talk about ethnization of poverty and, if it is, how can we best measure the phenomenon? How can the various approaches to measuring poverty – via income, consumption or subjective assessment - be applied in multi-ethnic environments? These are the main questions addressed in the paper. The analysis presented is based on nationally representative data for Bulgaria collected by the Agency for Social Analyses in 2003 in a study specifically investigating the socio-economic situation of Romanies in the country. Our hypothesis was that Roma and Turkish minorities are in higher poverty risk than Bulgarians. Poverty was measured using income, subjective and deprivation approaches. Two batteries of variables for measuring deprivation indexes were developed and implemented for the first time in Bulgaria – 16-poits for adults and 8-points for children. The logistic analyses showed that whatever the approach used, ethno-poverty exists but that the rate of poverty recorded depended on the measurement approach used. This raises serious questions about the correctness of poverty measurements used and the correct way to measure poverty.

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