Bulgaria has a temperate climate, with cool and damp winters, very hot and dry summers, and Mediterranean influence along the Black Sea coast. The barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains influences climate throughout the country: northern Bulgaria gets slightly cooler and receives more rain than the southern regions. Precipitation in Bulgaria averages about 630 millimetres per year. Drier areas include Dobrudzha and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the Rila and Stara Planina Mountains receive the highest levels of precipitation. In summer, temperatures in the south of Bulgaria often exceed 40 degrees Celsius, but remain cooler by the coast. A site near Plovdiv has recorded the highest known temperature: 46.7 degrees Celsius.
The official currency of Bulgaria is the Lev. The Lev exchange is now fixed against the Euro as part of the EU membership process. After EU membership in 2007, Bulgaria will adopt the Euro currency and the Bulgarian Lev will be phased out completely, this process is expected to take place in 2009 or 2010.
Bulgaria is a country situated in south-eastern Europe, bordering Romania, Serbia, the Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Turkey and the Black Sea. Its northern border with Romania follows the Danube river until Silistra. The land area of Bulgaria is 110,550 square kilometers, slightly larger than that of Iceland or the U.S. state of Tennessee. The country is situated on the west coast of the Black Sea, with Romania to the north, Greece and Turkey to the south, and Serbia to the west. Considering its small size, Bulgaria has a great variety of topographical features. Even within small parts of the country, the land may be divided into plains, plateaus, hills, mountains, basins, gorges, and deep river valleys. The geographic center of Bulgaria is located in Uzana.
Bulgaria has a long and rich history. The Thracians were the first people to settle the land, and archeologists today are still discovering traces of that ancient civilization. The first Bulgarian state was formed in AD 681, uniting the Bulgars with the local Slavic people. The Bulgarian Empire rivaled the Byzantines for control of the Balkan region during the 9th and 10th centuries. Christianity was adopted as Bulgaria's state religion in 864. In the late 9th century, two Bulgarian brothers, Cyril and Methodius, created what is now known as the Cyrillic alphabet. The Byzantine Empire overtook the Bulgarian state by the early 11 th century. In 1185, the second Bulgarian Empire was formed and remained in power until the rise of the Ottoman Empire in the late 14th century. Following a Russian victory in a war with the Ottoman Empire, part of Bulgaria was declared as an autonomous principality in 1878. A year later, Bulgaria adopted a democratic constitution, with a prince as head of state. Bulgaria became a fully independent nation in 1908.
In the early 20th century, Bulgaria became involved in the Balkan Wars, aligning with Greece and Serbia to win freedom for Thrace and Macedonia. Bulgaria later entered into World War I as a German ally. Bulgaria's great losses in the war lead to political and economic instability. Bulgaria had yet to recover from previous losses before entering World War II, allied with the Axis Powers. However, Bulgaria remarkably managed to protect its Jewish population of about 50,000 from the Holocaust by refusing to deport the country's Jewish citizens to concentration camps.
In the aftermath of World War II, Bulgaria was placed under Soviet control. Bulgaria's royal family was exiled, ending the Bulgarian monarchy, and the country was declared a people's republic in 1946. When Allied military forces withdrew from Bulgaria the next year, communism took control of the state. Under the influence of the communist party, opposition leaders were jailed, the economy was controlled by the government, and Bulgaria remained a strong ally of the Soviet Union. By the late 1980s opposition to the communist rule was growing. After a transition period, Bulgaria adopted a new constitution and held its first democratic Parliamentary elections in 1991. Bulgaria suffered inflation and economic instability during the mid 1990s, but since then has achieved economic and political stabilization. In 2004, Bulgaria joined NATO, and is currently in talks to join the European Union in 2007.
Bulgaria's head of state is President Georgi Parvanov, and Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev chairs the executive branch of government. Bulgaria has strong diplomatic ties to the United States, and stands out as a stable nation in an unstable region.
1 Jan New Year's Day.
3 Mar National Day (Day of Liberation).
10-13 Apr Easter.
1 May Labour Day.
6 May St George's Day (Day of Bulgarian Army).
24 May St Cyril and Methodius Day (Day of Culture and Literacy).
6 Sep The Unification of Bulgaria.
22 Sep Independence Day.
1 Nov Day of the Bulgarian Revival Leaders.
24-25 Dec Christmas.
31 Dec New Year's Eve.
According to the 2001 census, Bulgaria's population consists mainly of ethnic Bulgarian (83.9%), with two sizable minorities, Turks (9.4%) and Roma (4.7%). Of the remaining 2.0%, 0.9% comprises some 40 smaller minorities, most prominently in numbers the Russians, Armenians, Vlachs, Jews, Crimean Tatars and Sarakatsani (historically known also as Karakachans). 1.1% of the population did not declare their ethnicity in the latest census in 2001.
96.3% of the population speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue. Bulgarian, a member of the Slavic language group, remains the only official language, but numbers of speakers of other languages (such as Turkish and Romany) correspond closely to ethnic proportions.
The country has a Roma population estimated at between 200,000 and 450,000.
Most Bulgarians (82.6%) belong, at least nominally, to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, the national Eastern Orthodox Church. Other religious denominations include Islam (12.2%), various Protestant denominations (0.8%) and Roman Catholicism (0.5%); with other denominations, atheists and undeclared totalling approximately 4.1%.
In recent years Bulgaria has had one of the slowest population growth-rates in the world. Negative population growth has occurred since the early 1990s, due to economic collapse and high emigration. In 1989 the population comprised 9,009,018 people, in 2001 7,950,000 and in 2008 7,640,000. Now Bulgaria faces a severe demographic crisis: the population has a fertility-rate of 1.4 children per woman as of 2007, with a predicted rate of 1.7 by the end of 2050. The fertility-rate will need to reach 2.2 to restore natural growth in population.
Capitale: SOFIA
Popolazione: 7.846.000
Superficie: 110.994 Km²
Fuso orario: +1h rispetto all'Italia.
Lingue: Bulgaro, Inglese, Francese e Tedesco. Molto parlato è anche il russo.
Religioni: Cristiana ortodossa, Cattolica e musulmana (minoranza turca).
Prefisso dall'Italia: 00359
Prefisso per l'Italia: 0039
Moneta: Lev bulgaro (BGN).Dal 1° gennaio 2002 il Lev (BGN) risulta ancorato all'Euro, al livello di conversione pari a EURO/Lev 1:1,95583. Sia l'Euro che il dollaro USA sono comunemente accettati come valute di pagamento.
Il cambio è libero e può essere facilmente effettuato anche presso i numerosi uffici cambio autorizzati. Si raccomanda, tuttavia, di diffidare di eventuali offerte di cambio particolarmente vantaggiose che vengono normalmente proposte per strada nei pressi delle maggiori zone turistiche.
Prefisso dall'Italia: 00359
Prefisso per l'Italia: 0039
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