Bulgaria Snapshot Profile Print E-mail

 

  • Full name: Republic of Bulgaria

  • Population: 7.7m ('08)

  • Administrative capital: Sofia (1.2m inhabitants)

  • Timezone: GMT + 2 hours, BST + 3 hours

  • Area: 110,550 sq km (land)

  • Sunshine: c. 300 days 

  • Coastline: 354km

  • Main religions: 85% Orthodox Christian, 13% Muslim, 2% Other

  • Languages: Bulgarian (Slavic language akin to Russian/ Serbo-Croat), alphabet- Cyrillic

  • Admin divisions: 9 provinces: Burgas, Grad Sofia, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofia, Varna 

  • Internet domain: .bg

  • International dialling code: +359 

  • GDP: $31.48bn ('08) 

  • Economic growth: +6.09% (’08)

  • Labour force: 3.4m ('08)

  • Unemployment: 7% ('07)

  • Inflation: 7.26% (2006 est) predicted to fall to 3.4% (’07 forecast AEAF)

  • FDI: 16.43% (’08)

  • Average wage: c.€250 month (Sofia Echo 16.5.06/NSI) 

  • Monetary unit: Lev (BGN) pegged to euro

  • Main export: Chemicals and plastics, food and drink, tobacco, machine-building equipment, a significant net exporter of electricity 

  • Member of EU: Since 1st January ‘07

 

 

 

 

Sources: World Bank, National Statistics office, IMF, IFS, WDI (2004), Eurostat ’07, CIA World Factbook, Bulgariatravel.org, BBC.co.uk, wikipedia.org, National Statistics Institute, Industry Watch