Bulgaria

Bulgaria Background

The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration into the EU. The country joined NATO in 2004.

Bulgaria Information

• Population: 7,517,973 (July 2004 est.)
• Nationality: noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian
• Location:: Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey
• Religions:: Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Roman Catholic 1.7%, Jewish 0.1%, Protestant, Gregorian-Armenian, and other 3.4% (1998)
• Ethnic Groups:: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001)
• Land Boundaries:: total: 1,808 km border countries: Greece 494 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km, Turkey 240 km
• Area: total: 110,910 sq km water: 360 sq km land: 110,550 sq km
• Coast Line: 354 km
• Climate: temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
• Terrain: mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast
• Maritime Claims: territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
• Land Use: arable land: 40.02% permanent crops: 1.92% other: 58.06% (2001)
• Environmental 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 wast
• Natural Resources: bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
• Highways: total: 37,286 km paved: 35,049 km (including 324 km of expressways) unpaved: 2,237 km (2000)
• Railways: total: 4,294 km standard gauge: 4,049 km 1.435-m gauge (2,710 km electrified) narrow gauge: 245 km 0.760-m gauge (2003)
• Ports & Harbours: Burgas, Lom, Nesebur, Ruse, Varna, Vidin
• Airports: 212 (2003 est.)