Bulgaria

Currency		Lev

Bulgaria (officially called as Republic of Bulgaria) is a country in southeastern Europe.

The capital and the biggest city is Sofia. The currency is the Bulgarian leva. The Bulgarian government is a member of the European Union and NATO. It is preparing to join the Euro zone. Therefore, Bulgaria would change over to the euro after several years. The current president is Georgi Parvanov. The population of Bulgaria is reported between 7.094- up to 7.351 million people.

Bulgaria's official language is Bulgarian. The Bulgarian language is a Slavic language. It is related to languages like Serbian and Russian. Bulgaria became independent in 1908 from the Ottoman Empire. Bulgaria borders Romania, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, and the Black Sea. One of the national heroes of Bulgaria is Vasil Levski. His real name is Vasil Ivanov Kunchev. He was born in Karlovo in 1837.

History

In what became today's Bulgaria many cultures took place, including, Neolithic, Hamangia culture, Vinča culture, eneolithic, Varna culture (5th millennium BC) and the Bronze Age Ezero culture. The thracians inhabited of modern Bulgaria. King Tere united the people in Odrysian kingdom around 500 BC. Alexander the Great had influence over the people on the 4th century and later by the roman empire 46 AD. Eurasian Avars, South Slavs and Huns settled all over the territory of modern Bulgaria during the 6th century.

The first Bulgarian empire was established in 681 AD. But the first Bulgarian Empire came to fall under the pressure of the Byzantine Empire (se also Battle of Kleidion). The second Bulgarian empire, was ruined by the Ottoman empire for about 500 years until the Bulgarians rebelled against the Turkish rulers and exclaimed independence but still the power was under ottomans controls. After the first balkan war, Bulgaria pulled away from Ottoman Empires influence. But after the war it remained unclear in the management of southern Macedonia and no diplomatic solution arrived on time and the war on landmark erupted when Bulgaria woke up war against the alliance of Serbia and Greece which have allied together. When Serbia and Greece attacked Bulgaria the bulgarian army could resist them. But Romania arrogantly joined the alliance against Bulgaria, and pushed Bulgaria's land troops back.

In a successful appearances in the first world war in alliance with the Central Powers and the country's administration and landmarks where largely unaffected.

During the first year of World War II Bulgaria said it was neutral and refused to join pacts with Germany, Balkan or Soviet. But the increased tension in the war made the leadership to sign the three-powers pact with Germany in March 1941. Which led to that German forces could entering through Bulgaria to reach Greece.

Bulgaria had signed the three powers pact with Germany in March 1941. But Bulgaria did not follow Hitler's wishes. Bulgaria's troops refuse to participate in the military coups and also refused to take part in the holocaust. This made Adolf Hitler very suspicious.

In 1944 when it became clear that the allied will win the war so now Bulgaria had to find and looking for another solution, whose leadership declared that they withdrew from the Axis forces and opened up their borders to Soviet troops. But the Soviet Union didn't respect Bulgaria's transformation in to neutrality and therefore the red army was making an coup against Bulgaria and they took over the control of the country. The Soviet Union replaced the royal monarchy with a communist regime in 1947 before they withdrew from Bulgaria.

In the early 1990s, as the Soviet Union began to collapse, Bulgaria grew more independent of Soviet policy.

Within a few years of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bulgaria experienced serious economic problems under the socialist government that took power after the communists fell in 1989. Since that time Bulgaria has recovered in some ways. After some real economic reform and responsible fiscal planning, the government has become more stable. Problems in the administration, a weak court system and organized crime are the biggest issues for Bulgaria.

Economy and Social Welfare

Bulgaria's economy was dependent on the COMECON market, but succumbed in 1989. Living standards fell by 40 percent and a lot of newborn babies where sent to orphanages. United Nations sanctions against Yugoslavia affected Bulgaria's administration negatively.

In 1994 Bulgaria had a temporary economic boom. But that slowed down in 1996 due to the nature of bad international collaboration and unstable banks. Since 1997 the economy has grown steadily. Foreigners investors took place in Bulgaria and took for the whole trade. In addition very large privatization of the business.

Bulgaria has Europe's lowest income and corporate tax, 10 percent for both individuals and businesses. This makes Bulgaria a very attractive country to do business in. In addition, Bulgaria has a skilled and educated workforce. The average monthly salary in Bulgaria is 400 euro or $541 USD. The state does not respond anymore to free health care or other care. This system has been replaced by a contributory health insurance scheme, and drug costs are based on income. Private health care is encouraged nowadays. General unemployment compensation does not exist, but some compensation is based on family status and length of unemployment.

The retirement age for men is 63 years and for women 60 years.

Provinces

Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces. Each province is named after its capital. The provinces are divided into 264 municipalities.

Province	Population (Census 2001)	Population (Census 2011)	Population growth (2001/2011)	Land area (km²)	Population density (/km²)	Municipalities
Blagoevgrad	341,173	323,552	-5.2%	6,478	49.95	14
Burgas	423,547	415,817	-1.8%	7,618	54.58	13
Dobrich	215,217	189,677	-11.9%	4,700	40.36	8
Gabrovo	144,125	122,702	-14.9%	2,053	59.77	4
Haskovo	277,478	246,238	-11.3%	4,033	61.06	11
Kardzhali	164,019	152,808	-6.8%	4,032	37.90	7
Kyustendil	162,534	136,686	-15.9%	3,027	45.16	9
Lovech	169,951	141,422	-16.8%	4,134	34.21	8
Montana	182,258	148,098	-18.7%	3,595	41.20	11
Pazardzhik	310,723	275,548	-11.3%	4,393	62.72	11
Pernik	149,832	133,530	-10.9%	2,377	56.18	6
Pleven	311,985	269,752	-13.5%	4,216	63.98	11
Plovdiv	715,816	683,027	-4.6%	5,973	114.35	18
Razgrad	152,417	125,190	-17.9%	2,648	47.28	7
Ruse	266,157	235,252	-11.6%	2,616	89.93	8
Shumen	204,378	180,528	-11.7%	3,365	53.65	10
Silistra	142,000	119,474	-15.9%	2,862	41.74	7
Sliven	218,474	197,473	-9.6%	3,646	54.16	4
Smolyan	140,066	121,752	-13.1%	3,532	34.47	10
Sofia-Capital	1,170,842	1,291,591	+10.3%	1,349	957.44	1
Sofia (province)	273,240	247,489	-9.4%	7,277	34.01	22
Stara Zagora	370,615	333,265	-10.1%	4,959	67.20	11
Targovishte	137,689	120,818	-12.3%	2,735	44.17	5
Varna	462,013	475,074	+2.8%	3,819	124.40	12
Veliko Tarnovo	293,172	258,494	-11.8%	4,684	55.19	10
Vidin	130,074	101,018	-22.3%	3,071	32.89	11
Vratsa	243,036	186,848	-23.1%	4,098	45.59	10
Yambol	156,070	131,447	-15.8%	4,209	31.23	5

Society

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Development region	Area (km2)	Population (Census 2011)	Most populous urban center
Severen tsentralen	14,974	848,863	Rousse
Severoiztochen	14,487	952,264	Varna
Severozapaden	19,070	835,587	Pleven
Yugoiztochen	19,798	1,059,359	Burgas
Yugozapaden	20,306	2,199,712	Sofia
Yuzhen tsentralen	22,365	1,455,449	Plovdiv
Bulgaria	111,000	7,351,234	Sofia (1,359,520)

Encompassing there are 6 Bulgarian development regions of 27 smaller provinces.

In Bulgaria there are 5,664,624 citizens of Bulgarians, 1,200,000 citizens of Turks and 800,000 Citizens of Roma/Gypsies.

Bulgaria is classified as an development country by the EU.

• Number of inhabitants: 7,351,234

• Of whom female: 3,770,897 (51 %)
• Of whom male: 3,580,337 (49 %)

• Of whom living in cities: 5,357,633 (72,9 %)
• Of whom living in villages: 1,993,601 (27,1 %)

• Number of dwellings: 3 898 688
• Of whom households: 2 826 740

Other pages

• List of rivers of Bulgaria

References

Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages