economic outcomes among different demographic segments, shedding light on the underlying structural inequalities that contribute to poverty and social exclusion. Finally, geographic identifiers (urban/rural and NUTS2 identifiers<sup>35</sup> ) were also added to shed light on subnational disparities.

**To analyze poverty and multiple deprivations among the Roma population, we rely on the latest national SILC from Bulgaria; analysis for other countries is not possible due to a lack of ethnically disaggregated data in the EU-SILC and the unavailability of AROPE indicators in other household surveys** .  In the context of Bulgaria, the examination of multiple deprivations within the Roma population will leverage the comprehensive AROPE framework and the 2021 cross-section and longitudinal SILC <mark>; in Romania, the other country with available ethnic identifiers in the HBS, construction of AROPE was not feasible, due to large differences in survey design.</mark><sup>36</sup> <mark>Construction of AROPE using non-official periodic targeted surveys to include hard-to-reach groups, such as the latest 2021 FRA household-level data, was also not feasible, despite the potential for harmonized comparative analysis of ethnic disparities across several EU countries. These surveys also suffer from some limitations.</mark><sup>37</sup> <mark>.</mark>

**The analysis of chronic deprivations in Bulgaria leverages the longitudinal component of the EU-SILC, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of persistent socio-economic challenges over time.** Using longitudinal data from EU-SILC, it is possible to identify and analyze households and individuals experiencing persistent severe material and social deprivation over several years, similar to assessing persistent poverty risk. <mark>The EU-SILC panel data operates on a rotating panel system, where each year, a sixth of the initial sample is replaced with a new subset, ensuring the complete renewal of the sample every six years.</mark><sup>38</sup> This approach mitigates the issue of attrition commonly observed in full panel datasets over time. However, the six-year timeframe may limit the scope of dynamic analyses regarding income or multidimensional deprivation, particularly for capturing long-term trends. Each subgroup within the panel is designed to be representative of the entire population for a specific year, facilitating cross-sectional estimates and comparisons across different time points. The data is distributed in two variants: cross-sectional, which includes all six subsamples from different rotational groups for a given year, and longitudinal, which comprises observations from rotational groups previously observed. The longitudinal component enables analyses of poverty persistence over time, though limitations arise when dealing with newly introduced rotational groups, as they may not provide historical data for

> 35 The EUSILC does not have NUTS3 identifiers.

> 36 For example, some dimensions of multiple deprivations cannot be measured with the HBS, as there is no deprivation module as in SILC.

> 37 The 2021 FRA Roma surveys include the following eight EU Member States (Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, and Spain) and addition to non-EU member states (North Macedonia and Serbia). The countries covered in these surveys, together with Bulgaria and the Slovak Republic, cover 87 % of the estimated Roma population in the EU or 53 % of the estimated Roma population in Europe. The microdata is not yet released. However, while these surveys can provide estimates for ethnic populations, these estimates are generally not comparable to official household surveys due to methodological differences related to sampling methodology and questionnaire design. Additionally, these surveys do not contain a proper income or consumption module to allow measurement of monetary poverty. Therefore, they cannot produce official national estimates for monitoring outcomes.

> 38 <mark>Following IESS regulation, starting from 2021 onwards, Eurostat recommends using at least a four-year rotational design. Bulgaria, in addition to other countries (Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, and Sweden) are using a six-year rotation design.</mark>

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