Language: Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic breakdown

Literacy: 95% (est.)

Labor force: 4,300,000; 33% industry, 20% agriculture, 47% other (1987)

Organized labor: all workers are members of the Central Council of Trade Unions (CCTU); Pod Krepa (Support), an independent trade union, legally registered in January 1990

- Government
Long-form name: People's Republic of Bulgaria

Type: Communist state, but democratic elections planned for 1990

Capital: Sofia

Administrative divisions: 8 provinces (oblasti, singular—oblast) and 1 city* (grad); Burgas, Grad Sofiya*, Khaskovo, Lovech, Mikhaylovgrad, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sofiya, Varna

Independence: 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

Constitution: 16 May 1971, effective 18 May 1971