BULGARIAN’S ATTITUDES ON COVID 19: SOCIAL OPTIMISM OR REALITY DISTORTION

This article discusses the data collected from a national sample survey of the Bulgarian population; conducted in 2021, this survey is part of the International Social Survey Programme, implemented annually in over 50 countries across five continents on the basis of a common methodology and established world standards. The study covered a national representative sample consisting of 1,151 adult citizens .The results analyzed here are related to three questions: 1) The respondents’ degree of trust and expectations with regard to the healthcare system in Bulgaria; 2) Their attitudes to vaccination; 3) Their assessments of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The main results reveal that respondents had greater trust in the people representing institutions than in the institutions themselves; opinions were divided as to the need for vaccination; the respondents’ assessments indicated no anxiety regarding the negative impact of the pandemic on their physical and mental health of people. The authors discuss the obtained results, responding to these and other relevant data specific to Bulgaria, and present their intentions to include new indicators in future surveys on people’s opinions regarding COVID-19.