1995 Edition

Area

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

Climate

temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Coastline

354 km

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

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

10 sq km (1989 est.)

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

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

Ethnic Groups in Eastern Europe, Europe

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 southeast

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.)

Birth rate

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

Death rate

11.31 deaths/1,000 population (1995 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

11.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 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: 73.68 years male: 70.43 years female: 77.1 years (1995 est.)

Literacy

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

Nationality

noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian

Net migration rate

-2.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Population

8,775,198 (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.25% (1995 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 (1995 est.)

Administrative divisions

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

Capital

Sofia

Constitution

adopted 12 July 1991

Digraph

BU

Diplomatic representation in US

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

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

FAX

[1] (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)

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

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

Names

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

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

National holiday

Independence Day 3 March (1878)

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

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

Suffrage

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Type

emerging democracy

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

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

Budget

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

Currency

1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Economic aid

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

Electricity

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

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

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)

External debt

$12 billion (1994)

Fiscal year

calendar year

Illicit drugs

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

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%)

Industrial production

growth rate 4% (1994); 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)

122% (1994)

National product

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

National product per capita

$3,830 (1994 est.)

National product real growth rate

0.2% (1994 est.)

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.

Unemployment rate

16% (1994)

Radio

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

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

Television

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

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

Highways

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

Inland waterways

470 km (1987)

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

Pipelines

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

Ports

Burgas, Lom, Nesebur, Ruse, Varna, Vidin

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)

Branches

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

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 ________________________________________________________________________ BURKINA

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.)