Bulgaria - The Facts

Location and Land Bulgaria is located in southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey and covers an area of 110,910 square kilometers. It has land borders totaling 1,808km with Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro. Bulgaria also has 354km of coastline. The terrain is mostly mountains with lowlands in the north and south-east. The highest point in Bulgaria is at Musala which rises to 2,925m. The colours of the Bulgarian flag »»

Cities and Regions
The capital of Bulgaria is Sofia. Bulgaria consists of 28 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast); Blagoevgrad, Burgas, Dobrich, Gabrovo, Khaskovo, Kurdzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Montana, Pazardzhik, Pernik, Pleven, Plovdiv, Razgrad, Ruse, Shumen, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Sofiya, Sofiya-Grad, Stara Zagora, Turgovishte, Varna, Veliko Turnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Yambol. See a map here. Find places in Bulgaria here.

Climate
The climate is best described as temperate with cold, damp winters and hot, dry summers. See live weather here.

Population
The population of Bulgaria is around 7.5 million.
It is estimated that 13.4% of the population is below the poverty line. (2002 figures).

Religion
The religions of Bulgarians is Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, Roman Catholic 1.7%, Jewish 0.1%, Protestant, Gregorian-Armenian, and other 3.4% (1998)

National Holidays

• January 1st - New Years Day
• March 3rd - Liberation from Ottoman Rule
• May 1st - Labor Day
• May 6th - Army Day
• May 24th - Day of Enlightenment
• September 6th - Bulgaria's Unification
• September 22nd - Independence Day
• December 25th & 26th - Christmas

Economy
Bulgaria is a rapidly growing and modernizing country, with huge amounts of foreign investment pouring in, especially in the property and tourism sectors. Inflation in 2004 ran at about 6% and unemployment at about 13%.

As well as agricultural produce, Bulgaria has industries for electricity, gas, water, base metals, chemical products and nuclear fuel. Industrial growth is approx. 5-7% p.a.

Currency
The currency in Bulgaria is the lev (BGL) and the currency code is BGN.
See more about money matters here.

Transport
Bulgaria has over 4,300km of railways and 37,000km of roads although this is growing at an alarming rate. There are 470km of rivers and waterways.
Bulgaria’s airports can be found here.