Bulgaria

Map of Bulgaria

Country name	Republic of Bulgaria
Capital	Sofia
Population	7,037,935 (July 2012 est.)
Sex ratio	1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.68 male(s)/female total population: 0.92 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Religions	Eastern Orthodox 59.4%, Muslim (Sunni) 7.4%, Muslim (Shia) 0.4%, other (including Catholic, Protestant, Armenian Apostolic Orthodox, and Judaism) 1.7%, other (unknown) 27.4%, none 3.7% (2011 census)
Nationality	Bulgarian(s)
Languages	Bulgarian (official) 76.8%, Turkish 8.2%, Roma 3.8%, other 0.7%, other (unknown) 10.5% (2011 census)
Literacy	age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98.4% male: 98.7% female: 98% (2011)
National holiday	Liberation Day, 3 March (1878)
Independence	3 March 1878 (as an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire); 22 September 1908 (complete independence from the Ottoman Empire)
Location	Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey
Geographic coordinates	43 00 N, 25 00 E
Map references	Europe
Area	total: 110,879 sq km land: 108,489 sq km water: 2,390 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly larger than Tennessee
Land boundaries	total: 1,808 km border countries: Greece 494 km, Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia 318 km, Turkey 240 km
Coastline	354 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Climate	temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain	mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Black Sea 0 m highest point: Musala 2,925 m
Natural resources	bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
Exports - commodities	clothing, footwear, iron and steel, machinery and equipment, fuels
Imports - commodities	machinery and equipment; metals and ores; chemicals and plastics; fuels, minerals, and raw materials
Land use	arable land: 29.94% permanent crops: 1.9% other: 68.16% (2005)
Irrigated land	1,020 sq km (2003)
Total renewable water resources	19.4 cu km (2005)
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)	total: 6.92 cu km/yr (3%/78%/19%) per capita: 895 cu m/yr (2003)
Natural hazards	earthquakes; landslides
Environment - current issues	air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes
Environment - international agreements	party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulfur 85, Air Pollution-Sulfur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia