Bulgaria

[Country map of Bulgaria]

Map ©1996 NGS Cartographic Division. Developed in association with GeoSystems Global Corp. World Map

Geography

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

Map references: Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

Area:
total area: 110,910 sq km
land area: 110,550 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than Tennessee

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

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

Terrain: mostly mountainswith lowlands in north and southeast

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 sq km (1989 est.)


People

Population: 8,775,198 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 800,413; male 841,697)
15-64 years: 66% (female 2,927,880; male 2,910,133)
65 years and over: 15% (female 735,706; male 559,369) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.25% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 11.75 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 11.31 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 11.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.68 years
male: 70.43 years
female: 77.1 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Bulgarian(s)
adjective: Bulgarian

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

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

Languages: Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1992)
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97%

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


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form: Bulgaria

Digraph: BU

Type: emerging democracy

Capital: Sofia

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

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory


Economy

Overview: The Bulgarian economy continued its painful adjustment in 1994 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 the other centrally planned Soviet Bloc 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 government plans more extensive privatization in 1995 to improve the management of enterprises and to encourage foreign investment. Bulgaria resumed payments on its $10 billion in commercial debt in 1993 followingthe negotiation of a 50% write-off.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $33.7 billion (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate: 0.2% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $3,830 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 122% (1994)

Unemployment rate: 16% (1994)

Budget:
revenues: $14 billion
expenditures: $17.4 billion, including capital expenditures of $610 million (1993 est.)

Exports: $3.6 billion (f.o.b., 1993)
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% (FSU 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: $4.3 billion (c.i.f., 1993)
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% (FSU 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%)

External debt: $12 billion (1994)

Industrial production: growth rate 4% (1994); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)

Electricity:
capacity: 11,500,000 kW
production: 35.9 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 3,827 kWh (1993)

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

Agriculture: 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

Currency: 1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Fiscal year: calendar year


Transportation

Railroads:
total: 4,294 km
standard gauge: 4,049 km 1.435-m gauge (2,650 km electrified; 917 double track)
other: 245 km NA-m gauge (1994)

Highways:
total: 36,932 km
paved: 33,904 km (including 276 km expressways)
unpaved: earth 3,028 km (1992)

Inland waterways: 470 km (1987)

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

Ports: Burgas, Lom, Nesebur, Ruse, Varna, Vidin

Merchant marine:
total: 109 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,191,231 GRT/1,762,461 DWT
ships by type: bulk 47, cargo 29, chemical carrier 4, container 2, oil tanker 15, passenger-cargo 2, railcar carrier 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 6, short-sea passenger 1, refrigerated cargo 1
note: Bulgaria owns 2 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 12,960 DWT operating under Liberian registry

Airports:
total: 355
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 1
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 17
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10
with paved runways under 914 m: 88
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 1
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 10
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 226


Flag by Dream Maker Software, Inc.
Information obtained from CIA, The World Factbook 1995