Bulgaria

Airports

total: 487 usable: 85 with permanent-surface runways: 32 with runways over 3659 m: 0 with runways 2,440-3,659 m: 21 with runways 1,060-2,439 m: 36 note: a C-130 can land on a 1,060-m airstrip

Highways

total: 36,930 km paved: 33,902 km (including 276 km expressways) unpaved: earth 3,028 km (1991)

Inland waterways

470 km (1987)

Merchant marine

111 ships (1,000 GRT and over) totaling 1,225,996 GRT/1,829,642 DWT, bulk 48, cargo 30, chemical carrier 4, container 2, oil tanker 16, passenger-cargo 1, railcar carrier 2, roll-on/roll-off cargo 6, short-sea passenger 2 note: 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 microwave 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 2,175,921; fit for military service 1,816,484; reach military age (19) annually 70,306 (1994 est.)

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

$NA

Electricity

capacity: 11,500,000 kW production: 45 billion kWh consumption per capita: 5,070 kWh (1992)

Exchange rates

leva (Lv) per US$1 - 32.00 (January 1994), 24.56 (January 1993), 17.18 (January 1992), 16.13 (March 1991), 0.7446 (November 1990), 0.84 (1989); 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 (1993)

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 -10% (1993 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)

64% (1993)

National product

GDP - purchasing power equivalent - $33.9 billion (1993 est.)

National product per capita

$3,800 (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate

-4% (1993 est.)

Overview

The Bulgarian economy continued its painful adjustment in 1993 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 other centrally planned Eastern European 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 trade deficit, exacerbated by UN trade sanctions against neighboring Serbia, grew in late 1993, accelerating the depreciation of the lev. These difficulties in adjusting to the challenges of a more open system, together with a severe drought, caused nonagricultural output to fall by perhaps 8% in 1993. The government plans more extensive privatization in 1994 to improve the management of state enterprises and to encourage foreign investment in ailing state firms. Bulgaria resumed payments on its $10 billion in commercial debt in 1993 following the negotiation of a 50% write-off. An IMF program and second agreement with official creditors on Bulgaria's smaller amount of official debt are required to close the debt deal.

Unemployment rate

16% (1993)

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; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes natural hazards: subject to earthquakes, landslides international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur, Antarctic Treaty, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not ratified - 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

Balkan State, 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

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 Ognyan Raytchev PISHEV chancery: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: (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) Lyuben Borisov BEROV (since 30 December 1992); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime Minister) Evgeniy MATINCHEV (since 30 December 1992) cabinet: Council of Ministers; elected by the National Assembly

FAX

(202) 234-7973

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)

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

Names

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

National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)

last held 13 October 1991; results - UDF (and breakaway factions) 34%, BSP 33%, MRF 7.5%; seats - (240 total) UDF 110, BSP 106, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24 note: the UDF split in March 1993 to form the New Union for Democracy (NUD) with 18 seats, and the Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) with 92 seats

National holiday

Independence Day 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, and about a dozen other groups; Movement for Rights and Freedoms (mainly ethnic Turkish party) (MRF), Ahmed DOGAN, chairman; Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan VIDENOV, chairman; New Union for Democracy (NUD), Dimitar LUDZHEV, chairman

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 25402, Sofia; APO AE 09213 telephone: [359] (2) 88-48-01 through 05

Birth rate

11.71 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Death rate

11.38 deaths/1,000 population (1994 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 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 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: 73.24 years male: 69.99 years female: 76.67 years (1994 est.)

Literacy

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

Nationality

noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian

Net migration rate

-3.49 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)

Population

8,799,986 (July 1994 est.)

Population growth rate

-0.32% (1994 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 (1994 est.)