Only 12 per cent of the young people in Bulgaria were optimists about their future, the health and healthcare system in the country, research showed.

Dnevnik daily quoted Labour and Social Policy Ministry as saying that Bulgaria needed 560 000 people in working age to keep its current standards of living.

If the trend of ageing and depopulation continues, conditions of living in the country will worsen.

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences data showed that the population of Bulgaria was getting older and the number of pensioners in the country was equal to the number of workers.

The group of people aged 55 to 60 will continue growing in the forthcoming years. Labour ministry aimed to increase to 50 per cent the employment rate among this group.

Tension in the pension resources, the healthcare and insurance systems was to be expected, Dnevnik said.