COST OF LIVING, WAGES, HOUSING, HOSPITALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00926A007600160007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 30, 2003
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: December 6, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

25X1 Approved For Rel ase - 0-00926A007600160007-6
CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SUBJECT
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Bulgaria
Cost of Living., Wages, Housing, Hospitals
XII DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORMATION A ICTIN4 THE NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED STATES, WITHIN THEMEANINO OF TITLE II, SECTIONS 711
AND 711, OF THE U.S. CODE, Al AMLNOED, ITS TRANIMIIIION OR REVL,
LATION OF ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT IT AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON 11
PNOWI117[0 IV LAN, THE RIPROOUETION OF THIS REPORT II PRONIIITLO,
THIS Is UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
DATE D I STR. 4 -"P EO. 21354
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP, TO
REPORT NO.
1. The show windows are filled with good quality goods from Czechaslovs,k!La, P ,land,
and the USSR. Bulgaz'ian goods are of poor quality, but the prices of both
domestic and foreign goods are high domideirtng;tie pa ty among workers and
officials. Thus, nobody can buy these goods. An importea meter or wool o1t'
costs 350 to 650 leva5 One meta" of domestic wool costs 250 to 450 lava? The
price of a finished man's suit varies from 250 leva, for a suit made out of rags
and small pieces of material., up to 300 leva for better suits. One kg of o ^a ig,..e
costs 28 leva, ordinary bread 1.50 leva per kg, wheat bread 2,10 leva per kg.,
Dobrudzha bread three leva per kg., white bread 3.80 leva per kg., condensed milk
3.40 to four leva per liter, one kg of meat 12,50 to 16 leva, one kg of cheese
13 leva, oleo (sunflower oil) one kg 12 leva, one of lard 14 to 19 lava,, one
kg of sugar 1Q 5 1 3 lava (sugar cannot be obtained), eggs ;55 to ,72 lava per egg.
2. According to this yeasts [1954, harvest is very poor, especially
for bread grains. Recently ordinary.bread was being sold on the black market for
four leva per kg. Bread was recently bought from the black market for four lava
per kg by starving peasants, Up to one month ago eight thousand kg of bread were
sold in Vidin, but now 16 thousand kg of bread are sold. This bread is bought by
peasants who are the producers of the bread. This means that the state delivery
quotas are so high that the producing peasants must purchase grain in order to
fulfill their state delivery quotas. These peasants have to buy bread an the
black market in the cities. In Sofia, usually on a Friday, which is market day.,
one can see lines of peasants in front of bakeries of the Gratskatogovia (urban
store), with the queue starting at 5000 o'clock in the morning,
3. The average pay of white collar workers is 450 to 500 leva, The average pay of
peasants in cooperative labor farms is from 100 to 130 leva L per day ? , In
addition they receive pay in kind such as grain, lard, corn, sunflower seeds,
which are not even sufficient for a third of a year. The revenues of these
cooperative labor farms go out as state deliveries as well as into the pockets of
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AIR I I FBI
This report is for the use within the USA of the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It is not to be transmitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Office of Collection and Dissemination, CIA.
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 Approved For Release 2003/12/04: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600160007-6
CONFIDENTIAL,
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2tftNgh Party administrative personnel in the cooperative farms.
.4. that his pay 25X1
25X1 as not sufficient tD suppor his am y or
When he i a ove-norm production9 he received 600 leva. A physician stated
that he received at most 720 leva per month for above-norm work. This amount was
just sufficient to maintain his parents. With that amount he could not buy them
clothes, shoes, etc and he could barely avoid their starvation. ho ?R1
22 55XX was without work recently, depended on his son for support. His son 25X1
Z5X~ . with pay of 620 leva, The son wife is a bookkeeper a an wita pay
lava per month. With this amount of money they were able to live, but were hungry
and were always in fear of losing even that which they had.
5. The poor financial situation of the population is the main reason for so many
divorces, The State Security takes advantage of these family risks and uses
both the wife and husband as collaborators. These collaborators inform on the
life and activity of other citizens who live in the same cooperative or housing
area. It is interesting to note that divorced couples still live together in the
same room because of a housing shortage in the cities, especially Sofia. In some
cases, Bulgarians are not allowed to 'own apartments and rooms. Therefore., they
do not take care of them and everybody lives from day to day. There are apartmmalo~
in Sofia with two rooms where three and more families live, In an apartment witch
one room and one kitchen two families must live and this is the reason for the
decline in morals, resulting in many divorces, of which there have been many in
1954. There are special housing courts (commissions) which examine hundreds of
acts for dieputedrooms, apartments, etc. and at the and they decide on who
should stay in the room. The one who usually stays in an apartment or roam Is a
Communist or one who bribes the Housing Co=isejqn4Lp Housing is being ccMaFt, c `ed
Kurdzhali.,` Dim1.tro'vgrad, wT.+im rt ),
in industrial centers such as Rudozem, Madan, , i ,
_
eta. However, it is given, to notable Communists, Soviet speoialls , to !hcp
workers, to administrative personnel and militia in these cities.
Because there is a shortage of drugs, medical instruments,and because of the
poor pay of the physicians and medical personnel, diseases in Bulgaria are widespflead,
especially among the workers. In Sofia, there has been much infantile paralysis.
The Party hoes not take any steps to improve the health of the populatt n.. Its
built hospitals where there are industrial centers such as Dimitrovgrad, f+ wu4co( m,,
Kurdzhali, Dimitrovo, andcth.rs. But the oars in these hospitals is not good
and is only given superficially to oalm the people. The government is only
interested in the production of coal ores, uranium re, bread grams, Carted fro
vegetables, tobacco, all of which goes to the USE.
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CONFIDENT
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Approved For Release 2003/12/04: CIA-RDP80-00926AO07600160007-6