Country Report: Bulgaria

Country Report: Bulgaria

POLS 102

The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman Turks. Northern Bulgaria attained autonomy in 1878 and all of Bulgaria became independent in 1908. Having fought on the losing side in both World Wars, Bulgaria fell within the Soviet sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946. Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime. Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward eventual integration into the EU. The country joined NATO in 2004. Bulgaria is located in Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea between Romania and Turkey. It encompasses 110,910 square miles, making it slightly larger than the state of Tennessee. Made up of mostly hills interspersed with plateaus, Bulgaria also has major flatlands in north (Danubian Plateau, extending across entire country) and center (Thracian Plain). Main mountain ranges Balkan (extending across center of country from west to east, forming central watershed of country) and Rhodope (west to east across southern section of country); include two major ranges, Pirin (far southwest) and Rila (west central). Bulgaria's climate is divided by the Balkan Mountains into continental (predominant in winter, especially in the Danubian Plain to the north) and Mediterranean (predominant in summer, especially south of Balkan Mountains). Rainfall is also a variable, with largest amounts in higher elevations.

Bulgaria has large areas of high-quality arable land and forests. A wide variety of mineral resources, not including petroleum, are present. Copper, gold, iron, lead, and zinc are extracted commercially. Among nonmetallic materials extracted for industrial purposes are dolomite, gypsum, kaolin, marble, quartzite, and refractory clay. In 2004 Bulgaria's population was estimated at 7,518,000 after reaching a peak of about 9 million in 1988. The population had a negative growth rate of Ð'-0.92 percent per year. Population density was 68 persons per square kilometer. As the result of a long urbanization trend that began after World War II, in 2005 about 70 percent of the population was urban. However, Sofia (1.1 million population) is the only city with more than 350,000 inhabitants. In the post-communist era, migration into and out of Bulgaria has increased significantly, and movement is expected to accelerate as Bulgaria becomes integrated into the European community. In 2004 the net migration rate was Ð'-4.6 people per 1,000 population. An estimated 200,000 permanent residents left the country between 1992 and 2002. Bulgaria's traditionally strong agricultural sector has been hampered since 1990 by

slow reform of the centralized communist system. The industries developed by communist governments were not suited for the world competition they encountered in the 1990s. In the early and mid-1990s, those factors caused a steep drop in agricultural and industrial productivity, from which Bulgaria has recovered steadily since suffering a major national economic crisis in 1997 and 1998. With international support, in 1997 Bulgaria adopted a broad reform program that included major trade and price liberalization, social-sector reform, establishment of a currency board, restructuring of all sectors, and divestiture of state-owned enterprises. The program transformed Bulgaria's economy, lowered inflation, and improved investor confidence. In recent years, the economic goals of the government of Prime Minister Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

have been