Introduction

Background: The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration into the EU. The country joined NATO in 2004.

Geography

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

Geographic coordinates: 43 00 N, 25 00 E

Map references: Europe

Area: total: 110,910 sq km; land: 110,550 sq km ;  water: 360 sq km

Area - comparative: slightly larger than Tennessee

Land boundaries: total: 1,808 km

border countries: Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km, Turkey 240 km

Coastline: 354 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm;  contiguous zone: 24 nm

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

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

Terrain: mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Black Sea 0 m; highest point: Musala 2,925 m

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

Land use: arable land: 40.02%;   permanent crops: 1.92%;   other: 58.06% (2001)

Irrigated land: 8,000 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: earthquakes, landslides

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

Environment - international agreements: party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulfur 94

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

People

Population: 7,450,349 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 14.1% (male 539,005/female 512,762)

15-64 years: 68.7% (male 2,516,368/female 2,599,524)

65 years and over: 17.2% (male 531,008/female 751,682) (2005 est.)

Median age: total: 40.66 years;   male: 38.59 years;   female: 42.66 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.89% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 9.66 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 14.26 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: -4.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

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Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female;  under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female

total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 20.55 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 24.31 deaths/1,000 live births;  female: 16.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.03 years;  male: 68.41 years

female: 75.87 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.38 children born/woman (2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1% - note - no country specific models provided (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 346 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 100 (2001 est.)

Nationality: noun: Bulgarian(s)

adjective: Bulgarian

Ethnic groups: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001 census)

Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4% (2001 census)

Languages: Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write;  total population: 98.6%

male: 99.1%;  female: 98.2% (2003 est.)

Government

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria

conventional short form: Bulgaria

Government type: parliamentary democracy

Capital: Sofia

Administrative divisions: 28 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Khaskovo, Kurdzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Shumen, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofiya, Sofiya-Grad, Stara Zagora, Turgovishte, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Yambol

Independence: 3 March 1878 (as an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire); 22 September 1908 (complete independence from the Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: Liberation Day, 3 March (1878)

Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991

Legal system: civil law and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President Georgi PURVANOV (since 22 January 2002); Vice President Angel MARIN (since 22 January 2002)

head of government: Prime Minister Sergei STANISHEV (since 16 August 2005); Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo KALFIN (since 16 August 2005)

cabinet: Council of Ministers nominated by the prime minister and elected by the National Assembly

elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 11 and 18 November 2001 (next to be held NA 2006); chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) nominated by the president and elected by the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister and elected by the National Assembly

election results: Georgi PURVANOV elected president; percent of vote - Georgi PURVANOV 54.13%, Petar STOYANOV 45.87%; Sergei STANISHEV elected prime minister, result of legislative vote - 168 to 67

Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sobranie (240 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)

elections: last held 25 June 2005 (next to be held June 2009)

election results: percent of vote by party - CfB 31.1%, NMS2 19.9%, MRF 12.7%, ATAKA 8.2%, UDF 7.7%, DSB 6.5%, BPU 5.2%; seats by party - CfB 83, NMS2 53, MRF 33, ATAKA 21, UDF 20, DSB 17, BPU 13

Judicial branch: Supreme Administrative Court; Supreme Court of Cassation; Constitutional Court (12 justices appointed or elected for nine-year terms); Supreme Judicial Council (consists of the chairmen of the two Supreme Courts, the Chief Prosecutor, and 22 other members; responsible for appointing the justices, prosecutors, and investigating magistrates in the justice system; members of the Supreme Judicial Council elected for five-year terms, 11 elected by the National Assembly and 11 by bodies of the judiciary)

Economy

Economy - overview: Bulgaria, a former communist country striving to enter the European Union, has experienced macroeconomic stability and strong growth since a major economic downturn in 1996 led to the fall of the then socialist government. As a result, the government became committed to economic reform and responsible fiscal planning. Minerals, including coal, copper, and zinc play an important role in industry. In 1997, macroeconomic stability was reinforced by the imposition of a fixed exchange rate of the lev against the German D-mark and the negotiation of an IMF standby agreement. Low inflation and steady progress on structural reforms improved the business environment; Bulgaria has averaged 4% growth since 2000 and has begun to attract significant amounts of foreign direct investment. Corruption in the public administration, a weak judiciary, and the presence of organized crime remain the largest challenges for Bulgaria.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $61.63 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 5.3% (2004 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $8,200 (2004 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 11.5%;  industry: 30.1%

services: 58.4% (2004 est.)

Labor force: 3.398 million (2004 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 11%, industry 32.7%, services 56.3% (3rd quarter 2004 est.)

Unemployment rate: 12.7% (2004 est.)

Population below poverty line: 13.4% (2002 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 4.5%

highest 10%: 22.8% (1997)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 26.4 (2001)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.1% (2004 est.)

Investment (gross fixed): 18.6% of GDP (2004 est.)

Budget: revenues: $9.67 billion

expenditures: $9.619 billion, including capital expenditures of NA (2004 est.)

Public debt: 41.9% of GDP (2004 est.)

Agriculture - products: vegetables, fruits, tobacco, livestock, wine, wheat, barley, sunflowers, sugar beets

Industries: electricity, gas and water; food, beverages and tobacco; machinery and equipment, base metals, chemical products, coke, refined petroleum, nuclear fuel

Industrial production growth rate: 5.2% (2004 est.)

Electricity - production: 43.07 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption: 32.71 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports: 8.3 billion kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports: 960 million kWh (2002)

Oil - production: 603 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption: 94,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports: NA

Oil - imports: NA

Oil - proved reserves: 8.1 million bbl (1 January 2002)

Natural gas - production: 4 million cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 5.804 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 5.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 3.724 billion cu m (1 January 2002)

Current account balance: $682.9 million (2004 est.)

Exports: $9.134 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Exports - commodities: clothing, footwear, iron and steel, machinery and equipment, fuels

Exports - partners: Italy 13.2%, Germany 11.5%, Turkey 9.7%, Belgium 6.4%, Greece 6.1%, US 5.6%, France 5.1% (2004)

Imports: $12.23 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; fuels, minerals, and raw materials

Imports - partners: Germany 15.7%, Italy 10.9%, Russia 9%, Greece 8%, Turkey 7.5%, France 4.7%, Austria 4% (2004)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $7.526 billion (2004 est.)

Debt - external: $16.1 billion (November 2004 est.)

Economic aid - recipient: $300 million (2000 est.)

Currency (code): lev (BGL)

Exchange rates: leva per US dollar - 1.5751 (2004), 1.7327 (2003), 2.077 (2002), 2.1847 (2001), 2.1233 (2000)

note: on 5 July 1999, the lev was redenominated; the post-5 July 1999 lev is equal to 1,000 of the pre-5 July 1999 lev

Fiscal year: calendar