1993 Edition

Area

total area: 110,910 km2 land area: 110,550 km2 comparative area: slightly larger than Tennessee

Climate

temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Coastline

354 km

Environment

subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution

International disputes

Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia

Irrigated land

10 km2 (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

total 1,808 km, Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km (all with Serbia), Turkey 240 km

Land use

arable land: 34% permanent crops: 3% meadows and pastures: 18% forest and woodland: 35% other: 10%

Location

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

Map references

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

Maritime claims

contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

Natural resources

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

Note

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

Terrain

mostly mountains with lowlands in north and south

Birth rate

11.69 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Death rate

11.54 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Ethnic divisions

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

Infant mortality rate

12.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)

Labor force

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

Languages

Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 72.82 years male: 69.55 years female: 76.26 years (1993 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1970) total population: 93% male: NA% female: NA%

Nationality

noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian

Net migration rate

-4.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)

Population

8,831,168 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.39% (1993 est.)

Religions

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

Total fertility rate

1.71 children born/woman (1993 est.)

Administrative divisions

9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Mikhaylovgrad, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sofiya, Varna

Capital

Sofia

Chief of State

President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President Blaga Nikolova DIMITROVA (since NA)

Constitution

adopted 12 July 1991

Digraph

BU

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Ognyan Raytchev PISHEV chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (202) 387-7969

Executive branch

president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister), three deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers

FAX

(202) 234-7973

[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)

Head of Government

Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Lyuben Borisov BEROV (since 30 December 1992); Deputy Chairmen of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Ministers) Valentin KARABASHEV, Neycho NEEV, and Evgeniy MATINCHEV (since 30 December 1992)

Independence

22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court, Constitutional Court

Legal system

based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)

Member of

BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IFC, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTERPOL, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, NACC, NAM (guest), NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNTAC, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC

Names

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

National Assembly

last held 13 October 1991; results - UDF 34%, BSP 33%, MRF 7.5%; seats - (240 total) UDF 110, BSP 106, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24

National holiday

3 March (1878)

Other political or pressure groups

Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa (Support) Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union; Bulgarian Democratic Youth (formerly Communist Youth Union); Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Nationwide Committee for Defense of National Interests; Peasant Youth League; 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

Political parties and leaders

Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Filip DIMITROV, chairman, an alliance of approximately 20 pro-Democratic parties including United Democratic Center, Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party, Christian Democratic Union, Alternative Social Liberal Party, Republican Party, Civic Initiative Movement, Union of the Repressed, and about a dozen other groups; Movement for Rights and Freedoms (ethnic Turkish party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN, chairman; Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman

President

last held January 1992; results - Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Type

emerging democracy

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Hugh Kenneth HILL embassy: 1 Alexander Stamboliski Boulevard, Sofia, Unit 25402 mailing address: APO AE 09213-5740 telephone: [359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05

Agriculture

accounts for 22% of GDP (1990); 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

Budget

revenues $8 billion; expenditures $5 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991 est.)

Currency

1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Economic aid

donor - $1.6 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed countries (1956-89)

Electricity

11,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 5,070 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates

leva (Lv) per US$1 - 24.56 (January 1993),17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989), 0.82 (1988), 0.90 (1987); note - floating exchange rate since February 1991

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)

External debt

$12 billion (1991)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route

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%)

Industrial production

growth rate -21% (1992 est.); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)

Industries

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

80% (1992)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $34.1 billion (1992)

National product per capita

$3,800 (1992)

National product real growth rate

-7.7% (1992)

Overview

Growth in the lackluster Bulgarian economy fell to the 2% annual level in the 1980s. By 1990, Sofia's foreign debt had skyrocketed to over $10 billion - giving a debt-service ratio of more than 40% of hard currency earnings and leading the regime to declare a moratorium on its hard currency payments. The post-Communist government faces major problems of renovating an aging industrial plant; keeping abreast of rapidly unfolding technological developments; investing in additional energy capacity (the portion of electric power from nuclear energy reached over one-third in 1990); and motivating workers, in part by giving them a share in the earnings of their enterprises. Political bickering in Sofia and the collapse of the DIMITROV government in October 1992 have slowed the economic reform process. New Prime Minister BEROV, however, has pledged to continue the reforms initiated by the previous government. He has promised to continue cooperation with the World Bank and IMF, advance negotiations on rescheduling commercial debt, and push ahead with privatization. BEROV's government - whose main parliamentary supporters are the former Communist Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) - nonetheless appears likely to pursue more interventionist tactics in overcoming the country's economic problems.

Unemployment rate

15% (1992)

Airports

total: 380 usable: 380 with permanent-surface runways: 120 with runways over 3659 m: with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 20

Highways

36,908 km total; 33,535 km hard surface (including 242 km superhighways); 3,373 km earth roads (1987)

Inland waterways

470 km (1987)

Merchant marine

112 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,262,320 GRT/1,887,729 DWT; includes 2 short-sea passenger, 30 cargo, 2 container, 1 passenger-cargo training, 6 roll-on/roll-off, 15 oil tanker, 4 chemical carrier, 2 railcar carrier, 50 bulk; Bulgaria owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,717 DWT operating under Liberian registry

Pipelines

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

Ports

coastal - Burgas, Varna, Varna West; inland - Ruse, Vidin, and Lom on the Danube

Railroads

4,300 km total, all government owned (1987); 4,055 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, 245 km narrow gauge; 917 km double track; 2,640 km electrified

Telecommunications

extensive but antiquated transmission system of coaxial cable and mirowave radio relay; 2.6 million telephones; direct dialing to 36 countries; phone density is 29 phones per 100 persons (1992); almost two-thirds of the lines are residential; 67% of Sofia households have phones (November 1988); telephone service is available in most villages; broadcast stations - 20 AM, 15 FM, and 29 TV, with 1 Soviet TV repeater in Sofia; 2.1 million TV sets (1990); 92% of country receives No. 1 television program (May 1990); 1 satellite ground station using Intersputnik; INTELSAT is used through a Greek earth station

Branches

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

Defense expenditures

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

Manpower availability

males age 15-49 2,178,136; fit for military service 1,819,901; reach military age (19) annually 69,495 (1993 est.)