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Communications

Airports [time series]

380 total, 380 usable; about 120 with permanent-surface runways; 20 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air [time series]

86 major transport aircraft

Roadways (Highways) [time series]

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

Waterways (Inland waterways) [time series]

470 km (1987)

Merchant marine [time series]

110 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,234,657 GRT/1,847,759 DWT; includes 2 short-sea passenger, 30 cargo, 2 container, 1 passenger-cargo training, 6 roll-on/roll-off, 15 petroleum tanker, 4 chemical carrier, 2 railcar carrier, 48 bulk; Bulgaria owns 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,717 DWT operating under Liberian registry

Pipelines [time series]

crude oil 193 km; petroleum products 418 km; natural gas 1,400 km (1986)

Ports [time series]

Burgas, Varna, Varna West; river ports are Ruse, Vidin, and Lom on the Danube

Railways (Railroads) [time series]

4,300 km total, all government owned (1987); 4,055 km 1.435-meter standard gauge, 245 km narrow gauge; 917 km double track; 2,510 km electrified

Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]

extensive radio relay; 2.5 million telephones; direct dialing to 36 countries; phone density is 25 phones per 100 persons; 67% of Sofia households now have a phone (November 1988); 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

Defense Forces

Military and security forces (Branches) [time series]

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

Military expenditures (Defense expenditures) [time series]

exchange rate conversion - 4.413 billion leva, 4.4% of GNP (1991); note - conversion of defense expenditures into US dollars using the current exchange rate could produce misleading results

Manpower availability [time series]

males 15-49, 2,181,421; 1,823,678 fit for military service; 65,942 reach military age (19) annually

Economy

Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]

accounts for 22% of GNP (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 [time series]

revenues NA; expenditures NA, including capital expenditures of $NA billion (1991)

Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]

lev (plural - leva); 1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki

Economic aid [time series]

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

Electricity [time series]

11,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 5,040 kWh per capita (1990)

Exchange rates [time series]

leva (Lv) per US$1 - 17.18 (1 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 [time series]

$8.4 billion (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: machinery and equipment 55.3%; agricultural products 15.0%; manufactured consumer goods 10.0%; fuels, minerals, raw materials, and metals 18.4%; other 1.3% (1990) partners: former CMEA countries 70.6% (USSR 56.2%, Czechoslovakia 3.9%, Poland 2.5%); developed countries 13.6% (Germany 2.1%, Greece 1.2%); less developed countries 13.1% (Libya 5.8%, Iran 0.5%) (1990)

Debt - external (External debt) [time series]

$11.2 billion (1991)

Fiscal year [time series]

calendar year

GNP [time series]

purchasing power equivalent - $36.4 billion, per capita $4,100; real growth rate --22% (1991 est.)

Illicit drugs [time series]

transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route

Imports [time series]

$9.6 billion (f.o.b., 1990) commodities: fuels, minerals, and raw materials 43.7%; machinery and equipment 45.2%; manufactured consumer goods 6.7%; agricultural products 3.8%; other 0.6% partners: former CMEA countries 70.9% (former USSR 52.7%, Poland 4.1%); developed countries 20.2% (Germany 5.0%, Austria 2.1%); less developed countries 7.2% (Libya 2.0%, Iran 0.7%)

Industrial production growth rate (Industrial production) [time series]

growth rate --14.7% (1990); accounts for about 37% of GNP (1990)

Industries [time series]

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices) [time series]

420% (1991 est.)

Economic overview (Overview) [time series]

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; coping with worsening energy, food, and consumer goods shortages; 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. Bulgaria's new government, led by Prime Minister Filip Dimitrov, is strongly committed to economic reform. The previous government, even though dominated by former Communists, had taken the first steps toward dismantling the central planning system, bringing the economy back into balance, and reducing inflationary pressures. The program produced some encouraging early results, including eased restrictions on foreign investment, increased support from international financial institutions, and liberalized currency trading. Small entrepreneurs have begun to emerge and some privatization of small enterprises has taken place. The government has passed bills to privatize large state-owned enterprises and reform the banking system. Negotiations on an association agreement with the EC began in late 1991.

Unemployment rate [time series]

10% (1991 est.)

Geography

Climate [time series]

temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Coastline [time series]

354 km

Area - comparative (Comparative area) [time series]

slightly larger than Tennessee

Disputes - international (Disputes) [time series]

Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia

Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]

subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution

Area (Land area) [time series]

110,550 km2

Land boundaries [time series]

1,881 km; Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km, Turkey 240 km

Land use [time series]

arable land 34%; permanent crops 3%; meadows and pastures 18%; forest and woodland 35%; other 10%; includes irrigated 11%

Maritime claims [time series]

Contiguous zone: 24 nm Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm Territorial sea: 12 nm

Natural resources [time series]

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

Note [time series]

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

Terrain [time series]

mostly mountains with lowlands in north and south

Area (Total area) [time series]

110,910 km2

Government

Administrative divisions [time series]

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

Capital [time series]

Sofia

Political parties (Communists) [time series]

Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), formerly Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), 501,793 members; several small Communist parties

Constitution [time series]

adopted 12 July 1991

Diplomatic representation in the US (Diplomatic representation) [time series]

Ambassador Ognyan PISHEV; Chancery at 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008; telephone (202) 387-7969 US: Ambassador Hugh Kenneth HILL; Embassy at 1 Alexander Stamboliski Boulevard, Sofia (mailing address is APO AE 09213-5740); telephone [359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05; Embassy has no FAX machine

Executive branch (Elections) [time series]

National Assembly: last held 13 October 1991; results - BSP 33%, UDF 34%, MRF 7.5%; seats - (240 total) BSP 106, UDF 110, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24 President: last held 12 January 1992; second round held 19 January 1992; results - Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote

Executive branch [time series]

president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier), two deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers

Flag [time series]

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 [time series]

22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

Judicial branch [time series]

Supreme Court; Constitutional Court

Executive branch (Leaders) [time series]

Chief of State: President Zhelyu ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990) Head of Government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier) Filip DIMITROV (since 8 November 1991); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister) Stoyan GANEV (since 8 November 1991); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Nikolay VASILEV (since 8 November 1991)

Legal system [time series]

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

Legislative branch [time series]

unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)

Country name (Long-form name) [time series]

Republic of Bulgaria

International organization participation (Member of) [time series]

BIS, CCC, CE, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IIB, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NACC, NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO

National holiday [time series]

3 March (1878)

Political parties (Other political or pressure groups) [time series]

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 (Political parties and leaders) [time series]

government: Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Filip DIMITROV, chairman, consisting of 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 (pro-Muslim party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN, chairman, supports UDF but not officially in coalition with it opposition: Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), formerly Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman

Suffrage [time series]

universalandcompulsoryatage 18

Government type (Type) [time series]

emerging democracy, diminishing Communist Party influence

People

Birth rate [time series]

12 births/1,000 population (1992)

Death rate [time series]

12 deaths/1,000 population (1992)

Ethnic groups (Ethnic divisions) [time series]

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

Infant mortality rate [time series]

13 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)

Labor force [time series]

4,300,000; industry 33%, agriculture 20%, other 47% (1987)

Languages [time series]

Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Life expectancy at birth [time series]

69 years male, 76 years female (1992)

Literacy [time series]

93% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write (1970 est.)

Nationality [time series]

noun - Bulgarian(s); adjective - Bulgarian

Net migration rate [time series]

--5 migrants/1,000 population (1992)

Organized labor [time series]

Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Edinstvo (Unity) People's Trade Union (splinter confederation from KNSB); Podkrepa (Support) Labor Confederation, legally registered in January 1990

Population [time series]

8,869,161 (July 1992), growth rate --0.5% (1992)

Religions [time series]

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 [time series]

1.7 children born/woman (1992)