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Communications

Airports [time series]

total: 380 usable: 380 with permanent-surface runways: 120 with runways over 3659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 20 with runways 1,220-2,439 m: 20

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]

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 [time series]

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

Ports [time series]

coastal - Burgas, Varna, Varna West; inland - 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; 2,640 km electrified

Telecommunication systems (Telecommunications) [time series]

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

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]

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 [time series]

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

Economy

Agricultural products (Agriculture) [time series]

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 [time series]

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

Exchange rates (Currency) [time series]

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, 5,070 kWh per capita (1992)

Exchange rates [time series]

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 [time series]

$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)

Debt - external (External debt) [time series]

$12 billion (1991)

Fiscal year [time series]

calendar year

Illicit drugs [time series]

transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route

Imports [time series]

$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 (Industrial production) [time series]

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

80% (1992)

Real GDP (purchasing power parity) (National product) [time series]

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

Real GDP per capita (National product per capita) [time series]

$3,800 (1992)

Real GDP growth rate (National product real growth rate) [time series]

-7.7% (1992)

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; 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 [time series]

15% (1992)

Geography

Area [time series]

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

Climate [time series]

temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Coastline [time series]

354 km

Environment - current issues (Environment) [time series]

subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution

Disputes - international (International disputes) [time series]

Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia

Irrigated land [time series]

10 km2 (1989 est.)

Land boundaries [time series]

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 [time series]

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

Location [time series]

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

Map references [time series]

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

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

Government

Administrative divisions [time series]

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

Capital [time series]

Sofia

Constitution [time series]

adopted 12 July 1991

Digraph [time series]

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

chief of mission: Ambassador Ognyan Raytchev PISHEV chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (202) 387-7969 FAX: (202) 234-7973

Executive branch (Elections) [time series]

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

Executive branch [time series]

president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister), three 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 Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President Blaga Nikolova DIMITROVA (since NA) 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)

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)

International organization participation (Member of) [time series]

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

Country name (Names) [time series]

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

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]

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

Suffrage [time series]

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Government type (Type) [time series]

emerging democracy

Diplomatic representation from the US (US diplomatic representation) [time series]

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 FAX: [359] (2) 80-19-77

People

Birth rate [time series]

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

Death rate [time series]

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

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]

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

Labor force [time series]

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

Languages [time series]

Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Life expectancy at birth [time series]

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

Literacy [time series]

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

Nationality [time series]

noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian

Net migration rate [time series]

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

Population [time series]

8,831,168 (July 1993 est.)

Population growth rate [time series]

-0.39% (1993 est.)

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]

1.71 children born/woman (1993 est.)