BULGARIA
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BULGARIA
@Bulgaria:Geography
Location: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between
Romania and Turkey
Map references: Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe
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BULGARIA - MAJOR CITIES
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Latitude, Internat'l Time
Population Longitude Phone Code Zone
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SOFIA 1,129,000 42.40N, 23.18E 359-2 GMT+2
Plovdiv 357,000 42.08N, 24.45E 359-32 GMT+2
Varna 306,000 43.12N, 27.57E 359-52 GMT+2
Burgas 198,000 42.30N, 27.29E 359-56 GMT+2
Ruse 190,000 43.50N, 27.59E 359-82 GMT+2
Stara Zagora 156,000 42.25N, 25.37E 359-42 GMT+2
Pleven 134,000 43.25N, 24.40E 359-64 GMT+2
Tolbukhin 111,000 43.34N, 27.51E 359-58 GMT+2
Sliven 107,000 42.40N, 26.19E 359-44 GMT+2
Shumen 106,000 43.17N, 26.55E 359-54 GMT+2
Pernik 97,000 42.36N, 23.03E 359-76 GMT+2
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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
Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm
International disputes: none
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
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.)
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
@Bulgaria: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)
@Bulgaria: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
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
Legislative branch: unicameral
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
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.)
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
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
@Bulgaria: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
@Bulgaria:Communications
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)
@Bulgaria:Defense Forces
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.)
Defense expenditures: 13 billion leva, NA% of GDP (1994 est.); note -
conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current
exchange rate could produce misleading results
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