Poverty rises, bins overflow, and coding stars shine

The poverty line in Shumen oblast rose by 12.9% in 2025, with 19.7% of the population now living below the threshold. The national average stands at 21.2%.

The line itself is now €386 per person per month (755.17 leva converted at 1.95583). The region ranks 17th among Bulgaria's 28 oblasts for poverty depth. Stara Zagora recorded the highest rate at 28.4%, followed by Sliven (23.9%) and Targovishte (23.7%).

Material deprivation remains widespread: 46.5% of households cannot afford to replace worn-out furniture, 42.5% cannot afford a one-week holiday away from home, and 39.5% lack the means to cover unexpected expenses. Social transfers (pensions, benefits, family allowances) reduce the poverty rate by 5.4 percentage points; without them, the rate would climb to 25.1%.

Workers at Shumen's municipal waste enterprise BKS have warned of a looming sanitary crisis. Of the six refuse trucks nominally assigned to the city, only two are operational. One of those two is unreliable and stops working in wet weather.

The remaining four have been out of service for months. Workers say management has been repeatedly notified but no action has been taken. The minimum requirement for normal service is four working trucks plus one reserve.

In an open letter to the mayor, city council, and regional inspectorates, staff warned that collection schedules can no longer be maintained, bins are overflowing in various neighbourhoods, and the city faces 'real risk of partial or full blockage of waste collection'. They gave a 48-hour deadline for a repair plan and threatened lawful collective action if the situation is not addressed.

A man received an administrative penalty for illegal fishing at Ticha reservoir. Inspectors from the Shumen territorial office of the State Fund Agriculture, working with representatives of the 'Ticha is Alive' association, caught him using a net fishing device. The net was confiscated.

Plamen Manovski, who has lived in England since 2007, will perform a rock concert at the chamber hall of the Hristo Botev-1872 community centre in Novi Pazar on 15 May at 6pm. Entry is free. The concert is the second event this month connecting the local audience with Novi Pazar natives living abroad.

Three Shumen schoolgirls are representing Bulgaria at the sixth European Girls' Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI), running from today until 18 May in Cesenatico, Italy. They are Simona Hristova and Nermin Idiriz (both year 12) and Simona Ivanova (year 9), all from the A&B School of Informatics. The fourth team member is Elitsa Stoyanova from Sofia. Competition days are 13 and 16 May, with the awards ceremony on 17 May.