arable land
Land use:
arable land: 37%
permanent crops: 2%
permanent pastures: 16%
forests and woodland: 35%
other: 10% (1993 est.)
Irrigated land: 12,370 sq km (1993 est.)
Natural hazards: earthquakes, landslides
Environment—current 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 wastes
Environment—international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Persistent Organic
Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography—note: strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls
key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia
People
Population: 8,194,772 (July 1999 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 16% (male 674,643; female 641,943)
15–64 years: 68% (male 2,744,634; female 2,800,816)
65 years and over: 16% (male 570,766; female 761,970) (1999 est.)
Population growth rate: −0.52% (1999 est.)
Birth rate: 8.71 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate: 13.2 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Net migration rate: −0.66 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.95 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Infant mortality rate: 12.37 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.27 years male: 68.72 years female: 76.03 years (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.23 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Nationality: noun: Bulgarian(s) adjective: Bulgarian
Ethnic groups: Bulgarian 85%, Turk 9%, other 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:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97% (1992 est.)
Government
Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form: Bulgaria
Data code: BU
Government type: republic
Capital: Sofia
Administrative divisions: 9 provinces (oblasti, singular—oblast);
Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse,
Sofiya, Varna
Independence: 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)
National holiday: Independence Day, 3 March (1878)
Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system: civil law and criminal law based on Roman law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch:
chief of state: President Petar STOYANOV (since 22 January 1997);
Vice President Todor KAVALDZHIEV (since 22 January 1997)
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime
Minister) Ivan Kostov (since 19 May 1997); Deputy Prime Ministers
Aleksandur BOZHKOV (since 12 February 1997), Evgeniy BAKURDZHIEV
(since 21 May 1997), Veselin METODIEV (since 21 May 1997)
cabinet: Council of Ministers elected by the National Assembly
elections: president and vice president elected on the same ticket
by popular vote for five-year terms; election last held 27 October
and 3 November 1996 (next to be held NA 2001); chairman of the
Council of Ministers (prime minister) nominated by the president;
deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister
election results: Petar STOYANOV elected president; percent of
vote—Petar STOYANOV 59.73%
Legislative branch: unicameral National Assembly or Narodno
Sobranie (240 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve
four-year terms)
elections: last held 19 April 1997 (next to be held NA 2001)
election results: percent of vote by party—UDF 52%, BSP 22%, ANS 7%,
Euro-left 5.5%, BBB 4.95%; seats by party—UDF 137, BSP 58, ANS 19,
Euro-left 14, BBB 12
Judicial branch: Supreme Court, chairman appointed for a
seven-year term by the president; Constitutional Court, 12 justices
appointed or elected for nine-year terms
Political parties and leaders: Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP
(coalition led mainly by Movement for Rights and Freedoms or DPS
cochairmen]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Democratic Alliance for
the Republic or DAR; New Union for Democracy or NUD; Podkrepa Labor
Confederation; Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria
or CITUB; Bulgarian Agrarian National Union—United or BZNS;
Bulgarian Democratic Center; "Nikola Petkov" Bulgarian Agrarian
National Union; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization or
IMRO; agrarian movement; numerous regional, ethnic, and national
interest groups with various agendas
International organization participation: ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC,
CE, CEI, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, G- 9, IAEA, IBRD,
ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC,