How a Bulgarian state pension is calculated

Working life · Last reviewed: 2026-08-23

The formula: three inputs, one result

The calculation runs in two steps, and separating them is the key to understanding it. The first step finds the income the pension is calculated from: the national average monthly insurance income for the 12 calendar months preceding the month of grant, multiplied by the person's individual coefficient. The second step multiplies that income by the weight of the insurance service — 1.35% for each year, with a proportionate share for additional months. The basis is Article 70 of the Social Insurance Code.

1.35%: the weight of one year

Each year of insurance service enters the pension at a fixed percentage, and that percentage is 1.35%. It was not always so: according to NOI's summary of pension legislation changes, the weight of a year of service was raised from 1.169% to 1.35%, applied from 1 July 2019 to pensions with a start date after 31 December 2018. The practical meaning is that each additional year worked raises the pension permanently, and the increase applies across the whole record. Taken on 23 August 2026; the rate is set by law, so confirm the current one with NOI.

The individual coefficient: the personal part

The individual coefficient is the only input that makes a pension personal, and in one sentence it is: how many times above or below the national average was your insurance income over the same period? For pensions with a start date after 31 December 2018, the coefficient is computed from the person's insurance income for periods after 31 December 1999 up to the date of grant. Earlier start dates fall under a different methodology; NOI publishes the two separately.

The second pillar: universal fund and reduction

The pension system is not single-pillar. For people born after 31 December 1959 and insured in a universal pension fund, when the state pension is calculated a reduction is applied to the insurance income from which the individual coefficient is computed — because part of their contributions went to the fund rather than to state social insurance. According to NOI's announcement, the mechanism determining that reduction changed from 1 September 2021, the aim being a smaller reduction and therefore a higher state pension. So where a second pillar exists, your pension comes in two parts.

Floor and ceiling: a mechanism, not a number

The result of the formula is bounded on both sides. Below sits a minimum pension: if the calculation falls under it, the pension is raised to the minimum. Above sits a maximum; excluding supplements, one or more pensions together may not exceed that ceiling. Both limits are set by the annual state social insurance budget act, so they can change yearly and even mid-year. We do not print those amounts here, because they age fast. The 2026 minimum pension figure is given with its source in our separate article on the subsistence threshold for residence.

What happens after the pension is granted

1. 1

   Indexation — the „Swiss rule“

   Pensions granted up to 31 December of the previous year are indexed annually from 1 July by decision of NOI's Supervisory Board, at a rate equal to 50% of the growth in insurance income and 50% of the consumer price index for the previous calendar year. This norm is popularly known as the „Swiss rule“ and rests on Article 100 of the Code. Indexation applies to the pension amount excluding supplements paid on top of it.
2. 2

   Recalculation — for those who keep working

   A pensioner who keeps working and paying contributions may have the pension recalculated to take the newly accrued service and income into account. This differs from indexation: indexation applies to everyone, recalculation rests on your own new record. Read the conditions and procedure on NOI's relevant page.
3. 3

   Mid-year legislative change

   The budget act can change the floor and ceiling mid-year. A calculation made a year ago may no longer hold.

Why online calculators mislead

Most third-party pension calculators are well meant but structurally incomplete, for three reasons. First, they cannot know your individual coefficient — it exists only in your NOI record and cannot be guessed. Second, the national average insurance income depends on the month of grant; a tool running on a stale value drifts systematically. Third, the second-pillar reduction, the floor and ceiling, and special categories are usually not modelled at all. If a calculator gives you a number without showing its assumptions, that number is an impression, not information.

How to pull your own record

1. 1

   Get access to NOI's electronic services

   The services for individuals let you see your insurance service and income data. Access requires a personal code from the institution or an electronic signature; obtain it long before retirement day.
2. 2

   Review your whole service history

   Closed employers, records transferred to archives and older periods are the most common gaps. Evidencing a missing period can take months, so start years ahead.
3. 3

   Check your income year by year

   The individual coefficient is computed from income, so an incomplete or wrongly declared year lowers the pension directly. Compare any disputed year against the employer's declarations.
4. 4

   Declare foreign periods separately

   Periods spent in EU countries or in Türkiye are not found automatically. Document the country, the dates and the insurance number; details are in our related articles.
5. 5

   Ask NOI for the calculation in writing

   The granting decision states which periods were counted and how the amount was computed. Where a period is missing there is an appeal route, subject to a deadline.

Decisions that raise or lower the pension

• •Extending service raises the pension directly: each year carries 1.35%.
• •Contributing on real income raises the individual coefficient; declaring at the minimum base is a lifelong loss.
• •Early retirement relaxes the age condition but permanently lowers the pension; details are in the retirement age article.
• •Working after retirement can raise the pension through recalculation.
• •Evidencing missing periods is the most commonly skipped and highest-return action.
• •Second-pillar choices shift the balance between the state pension and the fund payment.

What we deliberately did not write

• •A personal calculation. The individual coefficient exists only in your record.
• •An average pension figure. An average says nothing about your pension.
• •Minimum and maximum amounts. Set by the annual budget act; the 2026 minimum is sourced in our separate article.
• •Retirement age and the service requirement. Covered in a separate article.
• •This year's indexation percentage. We wrote the mechanism, not the rate.
• •Invalidity and survivors' pensions. Governed by separate rules.
• •Special categories. First and second category work, military personnel and teachers fall under separate regimes.

Frequently asked questions

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