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

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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.


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

Geographic coordinates

Map reference: Africa, Arctic Region, Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe, Middle East, Standard Time Zones of the World

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

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

Coastline: 354 km

Maritime claims
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

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: subject to earthquakes, landslides

Geography
Note: strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia


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Population: 8,799,986 (July 1994 est.)
Growth rate: -0.32% (1994 est.)

Nationality: noun:Bulgarian(s)

Ethnic groups: Bulgarian 85.3%, Turk 8.5%, Gypsy 2.6%, Macedonian 2.5%, Armenian 0.3%, Russian 0.2%, other 0.6%

Languages: Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 85%, Muslim 13%, Jewish 0.8%, Roman Catholic 0.5%, Uniate Catholic 0.2%, Protestant, Gregorian-Armenian, and other 0.5%

Demographic profile

Age structure

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.32% (1994 est.)

Birth rate: 11.71 births/1000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate: 11.38 deaths/1000 population (1994 est.)

Net migration rate: -3.49 migrant(s)/1000 population (1994 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 12 deaths/1000 live births (1994 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 73.24 years
Male: 69.99 years
Female: 76.67 years (1994 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1994 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 est.)
Total population: 93%
Male: NA%
Female: NA%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional long form:

Government type: emerging democracy

Capital: Sofia

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast; Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofiya, Varna

Dependent areas

Independence: 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: Independence Day 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
Chief of state: President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President (vacant); election last held January 1992; results - Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
Head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Lyuben Borisov BEROV (since 30 December 1992); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister) Evgeniy MATINCHEV (since 30 December 1992)

Legislative branch: Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier Troops, Internal Troops
National Assembly Narodno Sobranie: last held 13 October 1991; results - UDF (and breakaway factions) 34%, BSP 33%, MRF 7.5%; seats - (240 total) UDF 110, BSP 106, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24
Note: the UDF split in March 1993 to form the New Union for Democracy (NUD) with 18 seats, and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) with 92 seats

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: ACCT (observer), BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI (participating), CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNTAC, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador William D. MONTGOMERY
From the us chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20,008
From the us telephone: [359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05
From the us fax: (202) 234-7,973
From the us embassy: 1 Saborna Street, Sofia
From the us mailing address: Unit 25,402, Sofia; APO AE 9,213
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 removed - it contained a rampant lion within a wreath of wheat ears below a red five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing the dates 681 (first Bulgarian state established) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi control)

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: The Bulgarian economy continued its painful adjustment in 1993 from the misdirected development undertaken during four decades of Communist rule. Many aspects of a market economy have been put in place and have begun to function, but much of the economy, especially the industrial sector, has yet to re-establish market links lost with the collapse of other centrally planned Eastern European economies. The prices of many imported industrial inputs, especially energy products, have risen markedly, and falling real wages have not sufficed to restore competitiveness. The trade deficit, exacerbated by UN trade sanctions against neighboring Serbia, grew in late 1993, accelerating the depreciation of the lev. These difficulties in adjusting to the challenges of a more open system, together with a severe drought, caused nonagricultural output to fall by perhaps 8% in 1993. The government plans more extensive privatization in 1994 to improve the management of state enterprises and to encourage foreign investment in ailing state firms. Bulgaria resumed payments on its $10 billion in commercial debt in 1993 following the negotiation of a 50% write-off. An IMF program and second agreement with official creditors on Bulgaria's smaller amount of official debt are required to close the debt deal.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -4% (1993 est.)

Real gdp per capita: $3,800 (1993 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

Agriculture products: 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: -10% (1993 est.), accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)

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

Unemployment rate: 16% (1993)

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget: revenues:$14 billion

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)
Commodities: 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: former CEMA countries 57.7% (USSR 48.6%, Poland 2.1%, Czechoslovakia 0.9%; developed countries 26.3% (Germany 4.8%, Greece 2.2%; less developed countries 15.9% (Libya 2.1%, Iran 0.7%) (1991)

Imports: $2.8 billion (f.o.b., 1991)
Commodities: 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: $12 billion (1993)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: leva (Lv) per US$1 - 32.00 (January 1994), 24.56 (January 1993), 17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989; note - floating exchange rate since February 1991


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Electricity
Capacity: 11,500,000 kW
Production: 45 billion kWh
Consumption per capita: 5,070 kWh (1992)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones

Telephone system

Broadcast media

Internet

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: 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


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 487
Usable: 85
With permanentsurface runways: 32
With runways over 3659: 0
With runways 2440-3659 m: 21
With runways 10602439 m: 36
Note: a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip

Heliports

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

Railways

Roadways

Waterways: 470 km (1987)

Merchant marine: 111 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,225,996 GRT/1,829,642 DWT, bulk 48, cargo 30, chemical carrier 4, container 2, oil tanker 16, passenger-cargo 1, railcar carrier 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 6, short-sea passenger 2
Note: Bulgaria owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,717 DWT operating under Liberian registry

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

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