Children in Bulgaria: Growing impoverishment and unequal opportunities

Abstract

The social and economic changes in Bulgaria since the beginning of transition naturally raise concern about their impact on child well-being. This paper investigates the changes that occurred over the last decade in three dimensions of child welfare recognised as fundamental child rights economic well-being, health and education. Then it concentrates on particularly vulnerable groups of children those born of teenage and single mothers and those living in institutions. The data show that the human cost of economic transition has been high and children have been among the most vulnerable groups of the society.child education; child health; child poverty; child welfare; economic policy; economic transition; institutionalized children; single mothers; social monitoring;Bulgaria;