General information: Bulgaria gained independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878, in the First and Second World Wars it participated in the old i not losers, in 1946 it fell into the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union and became known as the People’s Republic. The dominance of the communists in Bulgaria ended in 1990, when in Bulgaria! the first multi-party elections after the Second World War were held and in the country, which entered j the fight against inflation, unemployment, corruption and crime, a contradictory process of moving towards political democracy and a market economy began. Today, following the course of reforms and democratization, Bulgaria is moving towards final integration with NATO and the EU, the accession negotiations for which began in 2000. See areacodesexplorer.com to know more about Bulgaria History.
Geography
Location: Southeastern Europe, located on the Black Sea coast, between Romania and Turkey.
Geographical coordinates: 43° 00′ N. latitude, 25° 00′ E.
Reference map: Europe.
Area: total: 110,910 km2; land surface area: 110,550 km2; water surface area: 360 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than the state of Tennessee.
Land borders: total: 1,808 km; with neighboring states: with Greece 494 km, with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 148 km, with Romania 608 km, with Yugoslavia 318 km, with Turkey 240 km.
Coastline: 354 km.
Maritime claims: neutral waters: 24 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone: 200 nautical miles; territorial waters: 12 nautical miles.
Climate: temperate; winter is cold, wet; summer is hot and dry.
Terrain: mostly mountains, lowlands in the north and southeast.
Maximum and minimum heights: lowest point: Black Sea 0 m; highest point: Mount Musala 2,925 m.
Natural resources: bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land.
Land use: arable land: 43%; cultivated land: 2%; pastures: 14%; forests and plantations: 38%; others: 3% (1999 est.).
Irrigated land: 12,370 km2 (1993 est.).
Natural hazards: earthquakes, landslides.
Actual problems of the environment: air pollution by industrial emissions; pollution of rivers with waste, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; damage to forests by air pollution and, as a result, acid rain; contamination of soils with heavy metals (as a result of the work of metallurgical plants) and industrial waste.
International agreements on environmental protection: member: Air Pollution, Air Pollution – Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution – Sulfur 1985, Air Pollution – Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctica – Environmental Protection Protocol, Conservation of Marine Life in Antarctica, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental change, Hazardous waste, Law of the sea, Nuclear test ban, Ozone layer protection, Ship pollution, Wetlands; signed but not ratified: Air Pollution – Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution – Sulfur 1994, Kyoto Protocol.
Note to the section “Geography”: strategic position near the Bosphorus and Dardanelles; controls the main land routes from Europe to the Middle East and Asia.
Population
Population: 7,707,495 (July 2001 est.).
Age structure: under 14: 15.11% (men 597,765; women 567,030); 15 to 64 years old: 68.17% (male 2,588,805; female 2,665,736); over 65: 16.72% (male 543,665; female 744,494) (2001 est.).
Population growth: -1.14% (2001 est.).
Birth rate: 8.06 newborns / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Mortality: 14.53 deaths / 1000 people. (2001 est.).
Migration: -4.9 people /1000 people (2001 est.).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male/female; under 15: 1.05 male/female; 15 to 64 years old: 0.97 male/female; over 65: 0.73 male/female; for the general population: 0.94 male/female (2001 est.);
Child mortality: 14.65 deaths/1000 births (2001 est.).
Life expectancy: for the general population: 71.2 years; men: 67.72 years; women: 74.89 years (2001 est.).
General birth rate: 1.13 children/wives. (2001 OTs.).
Proportion of adults infected with HIV: 0.01% (1999 est.).
Number of people infected with HIV: no data.
AIDS deaths: less than 100 (1999 est.).
Nationality: noun: Bulgarian; adjective: Bulgarian.
Ethnic groups: Bulgarians 83%, Turks 8.5%, Gypsies 2.6%, Macedonians, Armenians, Tatars, Gagauz, Circassians, others (1998).
Believers: Orthodox 83.5%, Muslims 13%, Catholics 1.5%, Jews 0.8%, Uniates 0.2%, Protestants, adherents of the Armenian Gregorian Church and others 1% (1998).
Language(s): Bulgarian, other languages correspond to the ethnic composition.
Literacy: definition: persons aged 15 and over who can read and write; for the general population: 98%; men: 99%; women: 98% (1999). State Name:
Politics
Common long form: Republic of Bulgaria;
Common short form: Bulgaria.
State structure: parliamentary democracy.
Capital: Sofia.
Administrative division: 28 regions: Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Dobrich, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofia, Sofia (city), Stara Zagora, Tyrgovishte, Haskovo, Shumen, Yambol.
Independence: from March 3, 1878 (until 1878 – under the rule of the Ottoman Empire).
National holiday: Independence Day, March 3 (1878).
Constitution: adopted July 12, 1991
Legal system: civil and criminal law based on Roman law; subject to the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.
Suffrage: from 18 years old; universal.
chief of state: President Petar STOYANOV (since 22 January 1997) Vice President Todor KAVALD-ZHIEV (since January 22, 1997);
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) Ivan KOSTOV (since May 19, 1997); Deputy Prime Minister Petur ZHOTEV (since 21 December 1999);
Government: a council of ministers elected by the People’s Assembly; elections: the president and vice president are directly elected from the same ticket for a five-year term; elections last held 27 October and 3 November 1996 (next to be held in 2001); the chairman of the council of ministers (prime minister) is appointed by the president; Deputy Prime Ministers appointed by the Prime Minister; election results: Petr STOYANOV elected president; percentage of votes – Petr STOYANOV 59.73%.
Legislature: unicameral People’s Assembly (240 seats; members are directly elected for a four-year term); elections: elections last held 17 June 2001 (next to be held June 2005); election results: distribution of votes between parties – no data; number of seats – National Movement in Support of Simeon II 120,
UDF 51, BSP 48, DPS 21 presidents of the two supreme courts, the chief prosecutor and 22 other members; the council appoints judges, prosecutors and investigating judges; the members of the council are elected for five years, with 11 of them elected by the People’s Assembly and the remaining 11 by organizations of judges).
Political parties and leaders: United for National Salvation (ANS) (a coalition based on the Movement for Rights and Freedoms) (Ahmed DOGAN); Bulgarian Entrepreneurial Block (BBB) (Georgi GANCHEV); Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) (Georgi PURVANOV, chairman); Democratic Left (BSP-led bloc, which includes the Ecoglasnost Political Club and the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union) (DL) (leader – unknown); European Left (Alexander TOMOV [Aleksandur TOMOV]); All-Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (UMRO) (Aleksander KARAKACHNOV); Federation “Bulgarian kingdom” (leader – no data); Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) (Ahmed DOGAN); National Movement in Support of Simeon II (Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gota [Simeon Saksen-Koburg-Gota], former Bulgarian Tsar); People’s Union (includes the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union and the Democratic Party) (PU) (Anastasiya MOZER); Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) (a coalition of democratic parties) (Ivan KOSTOV).
Political influence groups and their leaders: agrarian movement; Bulgarian Democratic Center; Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB); Democratic Rally for the Republic (DAR); New Alliance for Democracy (NUD); Confederation of Labor “Pod-krepa”; numerous regional, ethnic and nationalist groups with different agendas.
Participation in international organizations: ACCT, BIS, BSEC, CCC, CE, CEI, CERN, EARC, EBRD, ECE, EU (applicant), FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IFC, IFRCS, IHO (pending member), ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, YUS, YuM, ISO, ITU, NAM (guest), NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMEE, UNMIBH, UNMIK, UNMOP, UPU, WCL, WEU (associate partner), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO, 1С.
Diplomatic representation in the USA: head of mission: Ambassador Philip DIMITROV (Philip DIMITROV); office: 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC 20008; phone: [1] (202) 387-7969; fax: [1] (202) 234-7973; Consulates: New York.
US Mission: Chief of Mission: Ambassador Richard MILES; embassy: 1 Saborna Street, Sofia; mailing address: American Embassy Sofia, Department of State, Washington, DC 20521-5740; phone: [359] (2) 980-52-41; fax: [359] (2) 981-89-77.
Flag Description: three identical horizontal stripes of white (top), green and red; the image of the national emblem, previously located on the part of the white strip adjacent to the staff, was removed; the emblem depicted a lion standing on its hind legs, surrounded by a wreath of wheat ears under a five-pointed red star and above a ribbon with the dates written on it: 681 (the year the Bulgarian state was founded) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi occupation).
