Country Overview | Key Property Facts

 

Currency:
Lev/Leva

Capital:
Sofia

Major Cities (by population size): 
Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgers, Rousse, Stara Zagora, Pleven, Dobrich, Sliven, Shumen.

Geography:
Geographically and in terms of climate, Bulgaria features notable diversity, with the landscape ranging from the Alpine snow-capped peaks in Rila, Pirie and the Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny weather of the Black Sea coast, from the typically continental Danubian Plain (ancient Moesia) in the north to the strong Mediterranean climatic influence in the valleys of Macedonia and the lowlands in the southernmost parts of Thrace.

Bulgaria comprises portions of the regions known in Classical Greece as Thrace, Moesia, and Macedonia. The mountainous southwest of the country has two alpine ranges — Rila and Pirin — and further east stand the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains.

Rila mountain includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula, peak Musala at 2,925 meters (9,596 ft); the long range of the Balkan mountains runs west-east through the middle of the country, north of the famous Rose Valley. Hilly country and plains lay in the southeast, along the Black Sea coast in the east, and along Bulgaria's main river, the Danube in the north. Other major rivers include the Struma and the Maritsa river in the south.

There are around 260 glacial lakes situated in Rila and Pirin, several large lakes on the Black Sea coast and more than 2,200 dam lakes. Mineral springs are in great abundance located mainly in the south-western and central parts of the country along the faults between the mountains. Bulgaria has a temperate climate, with cool and damp winters, very hot and dry summers, and Mediterranean influence along the Black Sea coast.

The barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains influences climate throughout the country: northern Bulgaria gets slightly cooler and receives more rain than the southern regions. Average precipitation in Bulgaria is about 630 millimetres per year. The driest areas are Dobrudzha and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the mountains Rila and Stara Planina receive the highest levels of precipitation.

In summer, temperatures in the south of Bulgaria often exceed 40 degrees Celsius, but remain cooler by the coast. The highest recorded temperature is 46.7c near Plovdiv.

The country possesses relatively rich mineral resources, including vast reserves of lignite and anthracite coal; non-ferrous ores such as copper, lead, zinc and gold. It has large deposits of manganese ore in the north-east. Smaller deposits exist of iron, silver, chromite, nickel and others. Bulgaria has abundant non-metalliferous minerals such as rock-salt, gypsum, kaolin, marble.

Politics:
Bulgarian Politics take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the Minister-Chairman is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly.

Since 1990 Bulgaria has an unstable party system, wherein nowadays the post-communist social democratic Bulgarian Socialist Party and the personalist liberal National Movement Simeon II are dominant. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. The U.S. Freedom House rates the country with a 1 on political rights and with a 2 on civil rights (on a scale of 1 to 7 whereas 1 is the most free). Freedom House considers Bulgaria to be a free country.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) won the first post-communist Assembly elections in 1990 with a small majority. The BSP government formed at that time was brought down by a general strike in late 1990 and replaced by a transitional coalition government. Meanwhile, Zhelyu Zhelev, a communist-era dissident, was elected President by the Assembly in 1990 and later won Bulgaria's first direct presidential elections, in 1992. Zhelev served until early 1997.

The country's first fully democratic Assembly elections, in November 1991, ushered in another coalition government, which was led by the pro-reform Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) in partnership with the Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). This coalition collapsed in late 1992, however, and was succeeded by a technocratic team, put forward by the MRF, which governed at the sufferance of the BSP for 2 years.

The BSP won pre-term elections in December 1994 and remained in office until February 1997, when a populace alienated by the BSP's failed, corrupt government demanded its resignation and called for new elections. A caretaker cabinet appointed by the President served until pre-term parliamentary elections in April 1997, which yielded a landslide victory for pro-reform forces led by the UDF in the United Democratic Forces coalition.

In 2001, former King Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha returned to power, this time as Prime Minister with his National Movement Simeon II. The last parliamentary elections took place on 25 June 2005. On July 27, 2005 the Bulgarian Parliament chose Sergey Stanishev of the Bulgarian Socialist Party as the new Prime Minister in a coalition government with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms.

The vote was 120 against 119. However, the parliament voted against the cabinet's staff by 119 to 117 votes. Finally, on August 15, 2005, the BSP and National Movement Simeon II formed a stable government, along with the Movement for Rights and Freedoms. This grand coalition comprises the three largest parties. This coalition will have a large majority in parliament with 169 of the 240 deputies.

Economy:

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.5% (2006 EST)
GDP (official exchange rate): $28.01 billion (2006 EST)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $79.05 billion (2006 EST)
GDP (real) growth rate: 6.1% (2006 EST)
Foreign direct investment (net inflow): -$3.2 billion

The economy of Bulgaria declined dramatically during the 1990s with the collapse of the COMECON system and the loss of the Soviet market, to which the Bulgarian economy had been closely tied. The standard of living fell by about 40%, and only regained pre-1989 levels by June of 2004.

In addition, UN sanctions against Serbia (1992-95) and Iraq took a heavy toll on the Bulgarian economy. The first signs of recovery emerged when GDP grew 1.4% in 1994 for the first time since 1988, and 2.5% in 1995. Inflation, which surged in 1994 to 122%, fell to 32.9% in 1995. During 1996, however, the economy collapsed due to the BSP's, slow and mismanaged economic reforms, its disastrous agricultural policy, and an unstable and decentralized banking system, which led to an inflation rate of 311% and the collapse of the lev.

When pro-reform forces came into power in the spring 1997, an ambitious economic reform package, including introduction of a currency board regime, was agreed to with the IMF and the World Bank, and the economy began to stabilize. As of 2007 the economy is growing at a steady pace of above 5% a year with budget deficits and shaky inflation. Future prospects are tied to the country's increasingly important integration with the European Union member states. The country is expected to join the Eurozone between 2010 and 2012.

Legal System:
The government is divided into the executive branch, legislative branch and Judicial branch. Executive branch: president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier), and two deputy chairmen of the Council of Ministers.  Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie).  Judicial branch: Supreme Court; Constitutional Court.  The legal system is based on a civil law system, with Soviet law influence.  Bulgaria has accepted the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.

Under the Constitution, the judiciary is granted independent and coequal status with the legislative and executive branches; however, the judiciary continued to struggle with problems including a lack of transparent and neutral standards for assigning cases; poor coordination between prosecutors, investigators, and courts; corruption; low salaries; understaffing; antiquated procedures; and a heavy backlog of cases.

The court system consists of regional courts, district courts, and Supreme Courts of Cassation (civil and criminal appeal) and Administration. A Constitutional Court, which is separate from the rest of the court system, is empowered to rescind legislation that it considers unconstitutional, settle disputes over the conduct of general elections, and resolve conflicts over the division of powers between the various branches of government. Military courts handle cases involving military personnel (including police personnel) and some cases involving national security matters. The Constitutional Court does not have specific jurisdiction in matters of military justice.

Judges are appointed by the 25-member Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) and, after serving for 3 years, may not be removed except under limited, specified circumstances. The difficulty and rarity of replacing judges, virtually regardless of performance, often has been cited as a hindrance to effective law enforcement. The 12 justices on the Constitutional Court are chosen for 9-year terms as follows: One-third is selected by the National Assembly, one-third appointed by the President, and one-third selected by judicial authorities.

People

Population
7,718,750 (2007)

Age structure
0-14 years: 14.1% (male 539,005/female 512,762)
15-64 years: 68.7% (male 2,516,368/female 2,599,524)
65 years and over: 17.2% (male 531,008/female 751,682) (2005 EST)

Median age
Total: 40.66 years
Male: 38.59 years
Female: 42.66 years (2005 EST)

Population growth rate
-0.86% (2006 EST)

Birth rate
9.66 births/1,000 population (2005 EST)

Death rate
14.26 deaths/1,000 population (2005 EST)

Net migration rate
-4.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 EST)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.71 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.93 male(s)/female (2005 EST)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 20.55 deaths/1,000 live births
Male: 24.31 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 16.56 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 EST)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 72.03 years
Male: 68.41 years
Female: 75.87 years (2005 EST)

Total fertility rate
1.38 children born/woman (2005 EST)

HIV/AIDS
Adult prevalence rate: less than 0.1%
People living with HIV/AIDS: 346 (2001 EST)
Deaths: 100 (2001 EST)

Nationality
Noun: Bulgarian(s)
Adjective: Bulgarian

Ethnic groups
According to 2001 Census:
Total: 7,928,901
Bulgarian 6,655,210 83.9%
Turk 746,664 9.4%
Rom 370,908 4.7%
Russian 15,595 0.2%
Armenian 10,832 0.1%
Vlach 10,566 0.1%
Macedonian 5,071 0.1%
Karakachan 4,107 0.1%

Religion
Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%
Muslim 12.2%,
Roman Catholic 0.6%,
Protestant 0.5%, other, atheist and undeclared 4.1%

Languages
Bulgarian, secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown.

 Country Ratings:

• Economist Intelligence Unit Quality of Life Index: 6162 rank: 57^th (2005).
• Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom: Rank 62 = 62.2% free.

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