Bulgaria

Republic of Bulgaria

emerging democracyIndependence 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

Bulgaria as the 1995 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 83 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.

field in that editiontext changed from the edition beforenot in that editionthe open editionEach field below ends in its editions, 1990 to 2025. Point at a year above to follow it down.

CapitalSofia
Area110,910 sq km
LocationSoutheastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between
1995

Every edition of Bulgaria

Populationas each edition published it
8.78 million July 1995 est. · 8.93m in 1990
Population growth% a year
-0.25% 1995 est. · -0.39% in 1993
Median ageyears
Not in this edition 40.5 yrs in 2003
Life expectancyyears at birth
73.68 years 1995 est. · 72.82 yrs in 1993
Fertility ratechildren per woman
1.71 children per woman 1995 est. · 1.9 in 1990
Infant mortalitydeaths per 1,000 live births
11.4 deaths per 1,000 live births 1995 est. · 13 in 1990
GDP per capitaeach edition's own dollars
$3,830 1994 est. · $3,800 in 1993
GDP real growth% a year
0.2% 1994 est. · -7.7% in 1993

Geography

Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between | Romania and Turkey

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Land useshare of 110,910 sq km

arable land 34%permanent crops 3%meadows and pastures 18%forest and woodland 35%other 10%irrigated 10 sq km (1989 est.)
Area
110,910sq km
land area: 110,550 sq kmcomparative area: slightly larger than Tennessee
Coastline
354km
contiguous zone: 24 nmexclusive economic zone: 200 nmterritorial sea: 12 nm
Land boundaries
1,808km
total · 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

Location

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

Map references

Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

Climate

  • temperate;
  • cold, damp winters;
  • hot, dry summers

Terrain

mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast

Natural resources

bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land

Environment

current issues:
  • air pollution from industrial emissions;
  • rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents;
  • deforestation;
  • forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain;
  • soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes
natural hazards:
earthquakes, landslides
international agreements:
  • party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands;
  • signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea

Note

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

People

15 fields
Population
8,775,198
(July 1995 est.)growth rate: -0.25% (1995 est.)

Per 1,000 population(1995 est.)

Birth
11.75Death
11.31Net migration
-2.91

Male · female(1995 est.)

TotalMale · femaleLife expectancy years73.68
70.43 · 77.1
TotalMale · femaleLiteracy98%
99% · 97%
MaleFemaleLiteracy age 15 and over can read and write (1992)

Ethnic divisions

Bulgarian 85.3%Turk 8.5%Gypsy 2.6%Macedonian 2.5%Armenian 0.3%Russian 0.2%other 0.6%
Labor force
4.3million
by occupation: industry 33%, agriculture 20%, other 47% (1987)

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.)

Infant mortality rate

11.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate

1.71 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality

noun:
Bulgarian(s)
adjective:
Bulgarian

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

Government

Emerging democracy; President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Zhan VIDENOV (since 25 January 1995)

22 fields

Legislature, 240 seatsone dot, one seat

BSP 125UDF 69PU 18MRF 15BBB 13

Names

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

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

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) Zhan VIDENOV (since 25 January 1995);
  • Deputy Prime Ministers Doncho KONAKCHIEV, Kiril TSOCHEV, Rumen GECHEV, Svetoslav SHIVAROV (since 25 January 1995)
cabinet:
Council of Ministers; elected by the National Assembly

National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)

  • last held 18 December 1994 (next to be held NA 1997);
  • results - BSP 43.5%, UDF 24.2%, PU 6.5%, MRF 5.4%, BBB 4.7%;
  • seats - (240 total) BSP 125, UDF 69, PU 18, MRF 15, BBB 13

Judicial branch

Supreme Court, Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders

  • Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman;
  • Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Ivan KOSTOV an alliance of pro-Democratic parties;
  • People's Union (PU), Stefan SAVOV;
  • Movement for Rights and Freedoms (mainly ethnic Turkish party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN;
  • Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB), George GANCHEV

Other political or pressure groups

  • Democratic Alliance for the Republic (DAR);
  • New Union for Democracy (NUD);
  • Ecoglasnost;
  • Podkrepa Labor Confederation;
  • Fatherland Union;
  • Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP);
  • Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB);
  • Bulgarian Agrarian National Union - United (BZNS);
  • Bulgarian Democratic Center;
  • "Nikola Petkov" Bulgarian Agrarian National Union;
  • Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Union of Macedonian Societies (IMRO-UMS);
  • numerous regional, ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas

Member of

ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI (associate members), EBRD, ECE, FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT (nonsignatory user), INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission:
Ambassador Snezhana Damianova BOTUSHAROVA
chancery:
1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008
telephone:
[1] (202) 387-7969

FAX

[1] (202) 234-7973

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission:
Ambassador William D. MONTGOMERY
embassy:
1 Saborna Street, Sofia
mailing address:
Unit 1335, Sofia; APO AE 09213-1335
telephone:
[359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05

FAX

[359] (2) 80-19-77

Flag

  • 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)

Economy

The Bulgarian economy continued its painful adjustment in | 1994 from the misdirected development undertaken during four decades | of Communist rule.

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GDP per capita, PPP
$3,830
(1994 est.)
Real growth rate
0.2%
(1994 est.)industrial production growth: growth rate 4% (1994); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)

Budget

Revenues
$14 billionExpenditures
$17.4 billion (1993 est.)
expenditures including capital expenditures of $610 million

Installed generating capacity, 11,500,000 kW

Electricity production
35.9 billionElectricity consumption per capita
3,827 (1993)

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 following the negotiation of a 50% write-off.

National product

GDP - purchasing power parity - $33.7 billion (1994 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)

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

Illicit drugs

transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin and South American cocaine transiting the Balkan route; limited producer of precursor chemicals

Economic aid

recipient: $700 million in balance of payments support (1994)

Currency

1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Exchange rates

  • leva (Lv) per US$1 - 67.04 (January 1995), 32.00 (January 1994), 24.56 (January 1993), 17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990);
  • note - floating exchange rate since February 1991

Fiscal year

calendar year

Transportation

7 fields

Airports by runway lengthpaved left, unpaved right · 355 in all

1
over 3,047 m
17
2,438 to 3,047 m
2
10
1,524 to 2,437 m
88
under 914 m
226
1,524 to 2,438 m
1
914 to 1,523 m
10
PavedUnpaved

Networkskm

Highways
36,932Railroads
4,294Inland waterways
470 (1987)
Highways: paved: 33,904 km (including 276 km expressways) · unpaved: earth 3,028 km (1992) · Railroads: standard gauge: 4,049 km 1.435-m gauge (2,650 km electrified; 917 double track) · other: 245 km NA-m gauge (1994)

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)

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

Communications

3 fields

Telephone system

  • 2,600,000 telephones;
  • 29 telephones/100 persons (1992);
  • extensive but antiquated transmission system of coaxial cable and microwave radio relay;
  • direct dialing to 36 countries;
  • telephone service is available in most villages;
  • almost two-thirds of the lines are residential;
  • 67% of Sofia households have phones (November 1988)
local:
NA
intercity:
NA
international:
1 earth station using Intersputnik; INTELSAT link used through a Greek earth station

Radio

broadcast stations:
AM 20, FM 15, shortwave 0
radios:
NA

Television

broadcast stations:
29 (Russian repeater in Sofia 1)
televisions:
2.1 million (May 1990)

Defense Forces

Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Border Troops, | Internal Troops

3 fields
Defense expenditures
13billion leva
NA% of GDP (1994 est.); note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results BURKINA

Branches

Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Border Troops, Internal Troops

Manpower availability

  • males age 15-49 2,171,414;
  • males fit for military service 1,810,989;
  • males reach military age (19) annually 69,200 (1995 est.)

Central Intelligence Agency. “Bulgaria.” The World Factbook 1995. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/bulgaria/1995.

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