InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department • Country Briefing • Bulgaria (BG)
Bulgaria on Europe’s 2025 Consumer Scorecard: Ranked 17th to 26th of 29 on Trust, Rights Knowledge and Product Safety
Thinking of moving to, studying in, or teaching in Bulgaria? Here is what the European Commission’s Consumer Conditions Scoreboard 2025 reveals about how protected, informed and safe consumers feel in Bulgaria – and exactly where the country stands against the other 28 markets in Europe. Across the three pillars of the Scoreboard’s Knowledge, Trust & Product Safety chapter, Bulgaria ranks 21st for trust, 17th for rights knowledge and 26th for product safety, out of 29 markets.
The Big Picture: Bulgaria vs. the EU27, Europe’s Best and Europe’s Lowest
The chart below sets Bulgaria side by side with the EU27 average, with Europe’s top-scoring market and with Europe’s lowest-scoring market on each of the three consumer pillars. It is the quickest way to see whether Bulgaria is closer to the European front-runners or to the back of the pack.
Figure 1: Bulgaria compared with the EU27 average, the European leader and the European lowest score on each pillar (% of adults, 2024).
What Figure 1 shows, in numbers:
- Trust in retailers: Bulgaria 71% vs. EU27 70% (1 percentage point above the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Austria at 88%; the lowest is Greece at 44%.
- High knowledge of rights: Bulgaria 26% vs. EU27 29% (3 percentage points below the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Denmark at 43%; the lowest is Greece at 10%.
- Product-safety confidence: Bulgaria 60% vs. EU27 68% (8 percentage points below the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Finland at 92%; the lowest is Greece at 59%.
Where Bulgaria Ranks Among Europe’s 29 Markets
The next infographic plots all 29 markets on a single scale for each pillar. The large navy dot is Bulgaria; the gold diamond is the EU27 average; the grey ticks are the other markets. The further right Bulgaria sits, the better it scores.
Figure 2: Bulgaria’s position on each pillar relative to the full European field and the EU27 average (% of adults, 2024).
What Figure 2 shows, in numbers:
- Trust: 21st of 29 at 71%, just behind Slovenia (72%) and ahead of Malta (70%). The EU27 average is 70%.
- Rights knowledge: 17th of 29 at 26%, just behind Slovakia (27%) and ahead of Austria (26%). The EU27 average is 29%.
- Product safety: 26th of 29 at 60%, just behind France (62%) and ahead of Cyprus (60%). The EU27 average is 68%.
Trust in Traders: Do Retailers in Bulgaria Respect Your Rights?
In Bulgaria, 71% of consumers agree that retailers and service providers respect their rights – 1 percentage point above the EU27 average. That is the 21st-strongest trust score of the 29 European markets surveyed. For everyday shopping that is encouraging: most people here expect fair treatment from traders. Across the EU as a whole, trust in retailers returned to its pre-pandemic level of 70% in 2024, while trust in public authorities to protect consumers stood at 61% and trust in consumer NGOs also at 61%. Trust tends to be higher among younger consumers and lower among those in a difficult financial situation.
Consumer-Rights Knowledge: How Well-Informed Are Shoppers in Bulgaria?
26% of consumers in Bulgaria reach the Scoreboard’s HIGH knowledge band – correctly answering at least three of four core questions – 3 percentage points below the EU27 average, ranking Bulgaria 17th of 29. This is the pillar where Europe is weakest overall: across the EU27 only 29% qualify as highly knowledgeable, while 35% fall into the LOW band. At EU level, 59% know the 14-day cooling-off right for distance purchases, 56% know a contract cannot raise prices one-sidedly without a cancellation option, just 44% know about the two-year legal guarantee for faulty goods, and only 31% know they are not obliged to pay for unsolicited products. Bulgaria’s below-average score is a flag for newcomers in particular: do not assume the people around you know these rights, and verify them before you act.
Product Safety, Recalls & the Safety Gate in Bulgaria
60% of consumers in Bulgaria are confident that the non-food products on the market are safe, 8 percentage points below the EU27 average and 26th of 29. Product safety is the most reassuring pillar across Europe, averaging 68% in the EU27 – broadly stable since 2018. At EU level, 56% of consumers had seen a product recall in the past two years and 13% had owned a recalled product; 14% experienced a product-safety issue (more than half did not complain about it); and 2% reported an injury from a dangerous product. Behind the scenes, the EU’s Safety Gate rapid-alert system exchanged 4,137 alerts on dangerous non-food products in 2024 – up 22% on 2023 and 95% on 2022 – with products from China making up 40% of alerts and chemical risks the most common hazard at 49%.
The Bottom Line for Expats, Students & Faculty in Bulgaria
Bulgaria’s relative strength is high knowledge of rights (17th in Europe), and its weakest pillar is product-safety confidence (26th of 29). Wherever you settle, the same EU-wide protections travel with you: the two-year legal guarantee on goods, the 14-day cooling-off period for distance and online purchases, out-of-court (ADR) and online dispute resolution, the European Consumer Centres Network for cross-border problems, and the Safety Gate for dangerous products. In markets like Bulgaria where product-safety confidence ranks lower, knowing these rights is your single most powerful tool as a consumer.
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InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department
Data source: European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Consumer Conditions Scoreboard 2025 (Knowledge, Trust & Product Safety chapter and Annex I country summaries). Analysis, ranking and visualisation by the InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department. Country values are read from the Scoreboard’s country-summary charts; where two markets sit very close, the ordering is indicative.