Branches:
Ground Forces, Navy, Air Force, and Royal Brunei Police
Manpower availability:
males 15-49, 75,330; 43,969 fit for military service; 2,595 reach military
age (18) annually
Defense expenditures:
exchange rate conversion - $233.1 million, 7.1% of GDP (1988)
:Bulgaria Geography
Total area:
110,910 km2
Land area:
110,550 km2
Comparative area:
slightly larger than Tennessee
Land boundaries:
1,881 km; Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and
Montenegro 318 km, Turkey 240 km
Coastline:
354 km
Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone:
24 nm
Exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
12 nm
Disputes:
Macedonia question with Greece and Macedonia
Climate:
temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain:
mostly mountains with lowlands in north and south
Natural resources:
bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
Land use:
arable land 34%; permanent crops 3%; meadows and pastures 18%; forest and
woodland 35%; other 10%; includes irrigated 11%
Environment:
subject to earthquakes, landslides; deforestation; air pollution
Note:
strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from
Europe to Middle East and Asia
:Bulgaria People
Population:
8,869,161 (July 1992), growth rate —0.5% (1992)
Birth rate:
12 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
12 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
—5 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
13 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
69 years male, 76 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
1.7 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Bulgarian(s); adjective - Bulgarian
Ethnic divisions:
Bulgarian 85.3%, Turk 8.5%, Gypsy 2.6%, Macedonian 2.5%, Armenian 0.3%,
Russian 0.2%, other 0.6%
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:
93% (male NA%, female NA%) age 15 and over can read and write (1970 est.)
Labor force:
4,300,000; industry 33%, agriculture 20%, other 47% (1987)
Organized labor:
Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Edinstvo
(Unity) People's Trade Union (splinter confederation from KNSB); Podkrepa
(Support) Labor Confederation, legally registered in January 1990
:Bulgaria Government
Long-form name:
Republic of Bulgaria
Type:
emerging democracy, diminishing Communist Party influence
Capital:
Sofia
Administrative divisions:
9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo,
Lovech, Mikhaylovgrad, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Sofiya, Varna
Independence:
22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)
Constitution:
adopted 12 July 1991
Legal system:
based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence; has accepted
compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday:
3 March (1878)
Executive branch:
president, chairman of the Council of Ministers (premier), two deputy
chairmen of the Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers
Legislative branch:
unicameral National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie)
Judicial branch:
Supreme Court; Constitutional Court
Leaders:
Chief of State:
President Zhelyu ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990)
Head of Government:
Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Premier) Filip DIMITROV (since 8
November 1991); Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Deputy Prime
Minister) Stoyan GANEV (since 8 November 1991); Deputy Chairman of the
Council of Ministers Nikolay VASILEV (since 8 November 1991)
Political parties and leaders:
government:
Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Filip DIMITROV, chairman, consisting of
United Democratic Center, Democratic Party, Radical Democratic Party,
Christian Democratic Union, Alternative Social Liberal Party, Republican
Party, Civic Initiative Movement, Union of the Repressed, and about a dozen
other groups; Movement for Rights and Freedoms (pro-Muslim party) (MRF),
Ahmed DOGAN, chairman, supports UDF but not officially in coalition with it
opposition:
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), formerly Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP),
Zhan VIDENOV, chairman
Suffrage:
universalandcompulsoryatage 18
Elections:
National Assembly:
last held 13 October 1991; results - BSP 33%, UDF 34%, MRF 7.5%; seats -
(240 total) BSP 106, UDF 110, Movement for Rights and Freedoms 24
President:
last held 12 January 1992; second round held 19 January 1992; results -
Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
Communists:
Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), formerly Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP),
501,793 members; several small Communist parties
:Bulgaria Government
Other political or pressure groups:
Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa (Support) Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union;
Bulgarian Democratic Youth (formerly Communist Youth Union); Confederation
of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB); Nationwide Committee for
Defense of National Interests; Peasant Youth League; Bulgarian Agrarian
National Union - United (BZNS); Bulgarian Democratic Center; "Nikola Petkov"
Bulgarian Agrarian National Union; Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization - Union of Macedonian Societies (IMRO-UMS); numerous regional,
ethnic, and national interest groups with various agendas
Member of:
BIS, CCC, CE, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, FAO, G-9, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IIB, ILO,
IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, IOC, ISO, ITU, LORCS, NACC, NSG, PCA, UN, UNCTAD,
UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO
Diplomatic representation:
Ambassador Ognyan PISHEV; Chancery at 1621 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC
20008; telephone (202) 387-7969
US:
Ambassador Hugh Kenneth HILL; Embassy at 1 Alexander Stamboliski Boulevard,
Sofia (mailing address is APO AE 09213-5740); telephone [359] (2) 88-48-01
through 05; Embassy has no FAX machine
Flag:
three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the national
emblem formerly on the hoist side of the white stripe has been removed - it
contained a rampant lion within a wreath of wheat ears below a red
five-pointed star and above a ribbon bearing the dates 681 (first Bulgarian
state established) and 1944 (liberation from Nazi control)
:Bulgaria Economy