*Bulgaria, Geography

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
Area:
 total area:
  110,910 km2
 land area:
  110,550 km2
 comparative area:
  slightly larger than Tennessee
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
Coastline:
  354 km
Maritime claims:
 contiguous zone:
  24 nm
 exclusive economic zone:
  200 nm
 territorial sea:
  12 nm
International disputes:
  Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia
Climate:
  temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain:
  mostly mountains with lowlands in north and south
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 km2 (1989 est.)
Environment:
  subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution
Note:
  strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from
  Europe to Middle East and Asia

*Bulgaria, People

Population:
  8,831,168 (July 1993 est.)
Population growth rate:
  -0.39% (1993 est.)
Birth rate:
  11.69 births/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate:
  11.54 deaths/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate:
  -4.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1993 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
  12.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
 total population:
  72.82 years
 male:
  69.55 years
 female:
  76.26 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate:
  1.71 children born/woman (1993 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 (1970)
 total population:
  93%
 male:
  NA%
 female:
  NA%
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, Mikhaylovgrad, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sofiya, Varna
Independence:
  22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)
Constitution:
  adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system:
  based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted
  compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday:
  3 March (1878)
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
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
Suffrage:
  18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Elections:
 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:   president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister), three
  deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers
Legislative branch:
  unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)
Judicial branch:
  Supreme Court, Constitutional Court
Leaders:
 Chief of State:
  President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990); Vice President Blaga
  Nikolova DIMITROVA (since NA)

*Bulgaria, Government

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

*Bulgaria, Economy

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.
National product:
  GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $34.1 billion (1992)
National product real growth rate:
  -7.7% (1992)
National product per capita:
  $3,800 (1992)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
  80% (1992)
Unemployment rate:
  15% (1992)
Budget:
  revenues $8 billion; expenditures $5 billion, including capital expenditures
  of $NA (1991 est.)
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)
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%)
External debt:
  $12 billion (1991)
Industrial production:
  growth rate -21% (1992 est.); accounts for about 37% of GDP (1990)
Electricity:   11,500,000 kW capacity; 45,000 million kWh produced, 5,070 kWh per capita
  (1992)

*Bulgaria, Economy

Industries:
  machine building and metal working, food processing, chemicals, textiles,
  building materials, ferrous and nonferrous metals
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
Illicit drugs:
  transshipment point for southwest Asian heroin transiting the Balkan route
Economic aid:
  donor - $1.6 billion in bilateral aid to non-Communist less developed
  countries (1956-89)
Currency:
  1 lev (Lv) = 100 stotinki
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
Fiscal year:
  calendar year

*Bulgaria, Communications

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
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)
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
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
Airports:
 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
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

*Bulgaria, Defense Forces

Branches:
  Army, Navy, Air and Air Defense Forces, Frontier Troops, Internal Troops
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.)
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