Map of Bulgaria | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

top of page


Background: A Slavic state, Bulgaria achieved independence in 1908 after 500 years of Ottoman rule. Bulgaria fought on the losing side in both World Wars. After World War II it fell within the Soviet sphere of influence. Communist domination ended in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR, and Bulgaria began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy. In addition to the problems of structural economic reform, particularly privatization, Bulgaria faces the serious issues of keeping inflation under control and unemployment, combatting corruption, and curbing black-market and mafia-style crime.


top of page


Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey

Geographic coordinates

Map reference:

Area
Total: 110,910 km²
Land: 110,550 km²

Land boundaries: total 1,808 km, Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km (all with Serbia), Turkey 240 km

Coastline: 354 km
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Maritime claims

Climate

Terrain: mostly mountains with lowlands in north and south

Elevation

Natural resources: bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land

Land use
Arable land: 34%
Permanent crops: 3%
Meadows and pastures: 18%
Forest and woodland: 35%
Other: 10%

Irrigated land: 10 km² (1989 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography


top of page


Population: 8,831,168 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: -0.39% (1993 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Bulgarian(s)
Adjective: Bulgarian

Ethnic groups:

Languages: Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 85%, Muslim 13%, Jewish 0.8%, Roman Catholic

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.39% (1993 est.)

Birth rate: 11.69 births/1000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate: 11.54 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution
Current issues note: strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 12.6 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 72.82 years
Male: 69.55 years
Female: 76.26 years (1993 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1970)
Total population: 93%
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


top of page


Country name
Conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
Conventional short form: Bulgaria

Government type: emerging democracy

Capital: Sofia

Administrative divisions:

Dependent areas

Independence: 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: 3 March (1878)

Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991

Legal system: based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch: president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister), three deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation:

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Ognyan Raytchev PISHEV
In the us chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
In the us telephone: (202) 387-7,969
In the us fax: (202) 234-7,973
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador Hugh Kenneth HILL
From the us embassy: 1 Alexander Stamboliski Boulevard, Sofia, Unit 25,402
From the us mailing address: APO AE 9,213-5,740
From the us telephone: 359 (2) 88-48-01 through 05
From the us fax: 359 (2) 80-19-77

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the national emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe has been Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi control)

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


top of page


Economy overview: Growth in the lackluster Bulgarian economy fell to the 2% annual level in the 1980s. By 1990, Sofia's foreign debt had skyrocketed to over $10 billion - giving a debt-service ratio of more than 40% of hard currency earnings and leading the regime to declare a moratorium on its hard currency payments. The post-Communist government faces major problems of renovating an aging industrial plant; keeping abreast of rapidly unfolding technological developments; investing in additional energy capacity (the portion of electric power from nuclear energy reached over one-third in 1990; and motivating workers, in part by giving them a share in the earnings of their enterprises. Political bickering in Sofia and the collapse of the DIMITROV government in October 1992 have slowed the economic reform process. New Prime Minister BEROV, however, has pledged to continue the reforms initiated by the previous government. He has promised to continue cooperation with the World Bank and IMF, advance negotiations on rescheduling commercial debt, and push ahead with privatization. BEROV's government - whose main parliamentary supporters are the former Communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - nonetheless appears likely to pursue more interventionist tactics in overcoming the country's economic problems.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -7.7% (1992)

Real gdp per capita: $3,800 (1992)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: accounts for 22% of GDP (1990; climate and soil conditions support livestock raising and the growing of various grain crops, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, and tobacco; more than one-third of the arable land: devoted to grain; world's fourth-largest tobacco exporter; surplus food producer

Industries: machine building and metal working, food processing, chemicals, textiles, building materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals

Industrial production growth rate: growth rate -21% (1992 est.), accounts for about

Labor force: 4.3 million
By occupation industry: 33%
By occupation agriculture: 20%
By occupation other: 47% (1987)

Unemployment rate: 15% (1992)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues $8 billion; expenditures $5 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991 est.)

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $3.5 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment 30.6%; agricultural products 24%; manufactured consumer goods 22.2%; fuels, minerals, raw materials, and metals 10.5%; other 12.7% (1991)
Partners:

Imports: $2.8 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodoties: fuels, minerals, and raw materials 58.7%; machinery and equipment 15.8%; manufactured consumer goods 4.4%; agricultural products 15.2%; other 5.9%
Partners: former CEMA countries 51.0% (former USSR 43.2%, Poland 3.7%; developed countries 32.8% (Germany 7.0%, Austria 4.7%; less developed countries 16.2% (Iran 2.8%, Libya 2.5%)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: leva (Lv) per US$1 - 24.56 (January 1993),17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989), 0.82 (1988), 0.90 (1987; note - floating exchange rate since February 1991


top of page


Electricity
Production: 11,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 5,070 kWh per capita (1992)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


top of page


Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


top of page


Military expenditures
Percent of gdp: 5.77 billion leva, NA% of GDP (1993 est.), note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


top of page


National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 380
Usable: 380
With permanentsurface runways: 120
With runways over 3659 m: 0
With runways 1220-2439 m: 20

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 193 km; petroleum products 525 km; natural gas 1,400 km (1992)

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 470 km (1987)

Merchant marine:

Ports and terminals


top of page


Disputes international: Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route