Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Bulgaria has the lowest defense spending compared to its neighbors

Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov
Photo: BTA

Bulgaria will continue to help Ukraine in line with the decision of the National Assembly, Defence Minister Atanas Zapryanov told bTV. "We will continue to support Ukraine as we have done so far. What we have done is based on the decisions of the National Assembly of 2022 and 2023", Minister Zapryanov said further.

The shortage of soldiers has increased from 25% to 30%. The shortage of Land Forces officers is 34%, Atanas Zapryanov said. He emphasized that increasing military salaries will not burden the state budget, where 2.5% of the country's GDP is earmarked for defense. According to Minister Zaptryanov, Bulgaria spends the least on defense compared to its neighbors. In his words, Romania and Greece spend 3% of their GDP on defence, while Turkiye spends 4% of its GDP on defense. Even Serbia spends more, Minister Zapryanov said.




Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Weather forecast: The clouds and rain continue, no rain in the Southwest

On Thursday minimum temperatures will range between 6 and 11° C., for Sofia around 8° C. During the day the weather will continue cloudy and rainy. The rain will be more significant in Eastern Bulgaria, and in the afternoon – in Central Bulgaria...

published on 11/5/25 6:35 PM
Deputy PM Tomislav Donchev

European Commission withholds payment under recovery and resilience plan over failure to implement anti-corruption reforms

The European Commission has decided to withhold EUR 215 million from the second payment under Bulgaria’s recovery and resilience plan, the EC told the Bulgarian National Radio. The country is to receive EUR 439 million. EU may cut money for..

published on 11/5/25 4:39 PM

Parliament sets up ad-hoc committee to investigate Soros’ activities in Bulgaria

With 111 votes for, 51 against and 43 abstained, the National Assembly approved the establishment of an ad-hoc committee to investigate the activities of George Soros and his son Alexander Soros and their foundations in this country financing..

published on 11/5/25 3:15 PM