Comparative Analysis of Government Expenditure on Social Protection Between Bulgaria and the EU-27: Convergence Trends

There are serious social-economic challenges arising from the action of a number of factors such as demographic changes, economic crises, structural transformations of the labour market and the entry of artificial intelligence into various professional fields. The latter has an impact on the fiscal sustainability and efficiency of social systems, both in Bulgaria and in a number of European countries. In this context, the main objective of the article is to conduct a comparative analysis of the dynamics of government expenditure on social protection between Bulgaria and the EU-27 and on this basis to identify convergence trends after the post-pandemic period. The research methods used are descriptive analysis and comparative analysis. The study reveals significant differences in the dynamics of social expenditure between Bulgaria and the average European level for the first half of the period reviewed and trends towards convergence in some of their subgroups during the post-pandemic years. The study provides an empirical basis for formulating policies that combine social justice and fiscal sustainability in the conditions of a dynamic economic environment and the action of exogenous shocks.