Bulgaria
| Country summary | |
|---|---|
|
Capital |
Sofia |
|
Borders |
Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia 318 km, Turkey 240 km |
|
Government type |
parliamentary democracy |
|
Population |
7,204,687 (July 2010 est.)[1] |
|
Population growth |
-0.79% (2010 est.)[1] |
|
Life expectancy |
73.09 years[1] |
|
Unemployment |
9.1% (2009)[1] |
|
75[2] | |
|
71[3] | |
|
44[4] | |
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 from the Ottoman Empire 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. The country joined NATO in 2004 and the EU in 2007.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Lev (ISO code: BGN)
- Central bank discount rate: 0.55% (31 December 2009)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 10.86% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $12.63 billion (31 December 2009)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $20.61 billion (31 December 2009)[1]
Notable events:
- Banking crisis: 1995-1997[5]
- Public default: 1916-1920, 1932, 1990-1994 (external)[6]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[7] | 12 946 | 12 599 | 13 599 | 15 600 | 19 986 | 24 648 | 27 188 | 31 656 | 39 549 | 49 900 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] | ||||||||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] | 33.131 | 33.690 | 33.003 | 33.001 | 35.192 | 37.378 | 38.273 | 36.635 | 37.150 | 36.356 |
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] | 31.020 | 32.315 | 31.280 | 32.508 | 33.820 | 34.583 | 33.638 | 31.679 | 31.990 | 30.908 |
| Debt to revenue (years) |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Bulgaria", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Bulgaria", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ Transparency International. "Bulgaria", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ Doing Business. "Bulgaria", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 354. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
- ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 27. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-19.
- ↑ World Bank. "Bulgaria: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Bulgaria: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Bulgaria: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
- ↑ World Bank. "Bulgaria: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-29.
Links
- Bulgaria on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Bulgaria
- Country profile (pdf) from the Enterprise Studies page (part of the The World Bank Group)
- Studies from the Library of Congress (1986-1998)
- BBC country profile
