"text":"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."
}
},
"Geography":{
"Location":{
"text":"Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and Turkey"
"text":"Danube (shared with Germany [s], Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania [m]) - 2,888 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"<br>Светoвен Алманах, незаменимият източник за основна информация. (Bulgarian)<br><br>The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information."
"text":"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":{
"text":"Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Heavy Metals, Air Pollution-Multi-effect Protocol, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protection, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping-London Convention, Marine Dumping-London Protocol, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 2006, Wetlands, Whaling"
"text":"Danube (shared with Germany [s], Austria, Slovakia, Czechia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania [m]) - 2,888 km<br><strong>note</strong> – [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth"
"text":"3 March 1878 (as an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire); 22 September 1908 (complete independence from the Ottoman Empire)"
},
"National holiday":{
"text":"Liberation Day, 3 March (1878)"
},
"Constitution":{
"history":{
"text":"several previous; latest drafted between late 1990 and early 1991, adopted 13 July 1991"
},
"amendments":{
"text":"proposed by the National Assembly or by the president of the republic; passage requires three-fourths majority vote of National Assembly members in three ballots; signed by the National Assembly chairperson; note - under special circumstances, a \"Grand National Assembly\" is elected with the authority to write a new constitution and amend certain articles of the constitution, including those affecting basic civil rights and national sovereignty; passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote in each of several readings; amended several times, last in 2015"
}
},
"Legal system":{
"text":"civil law"
},
"International law organization participation":{
"text":"accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction"
},
"Citizenship":{
"citizenship by birth":{
"text":"no"
},
"citizenship by descent only":{
"text":"at least one parent must be a citizen of Bulgaria"
"text":"president and vice president elected on the same ballot by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 5-year term (eligible for a second term); election last held on 14 and 21 November 2021 (next to be held in fall 2026); chairman of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) elected by the National Assembly; deputy prime ministers nominated by the prime minister, elected by the National Assembly"
"text":"<em><br>2021</em>: Rumen RADEV reelected president in second round; percent of vote in first round - Rumen RADEV (independent) 49.4%, Anastas GERDZHIKOV (independent) 22.8%, Mustafa KARADAYI (DPS) 11.6%, Kostadin KOSTADINOV (Revival) 3.9%, Lozan PANOV (independent) 3.7%, other 8.6%; percent of vote in the second round - Rumen RADEV 66.7%, Anastas GERDZHIKOV 31.8%, neither 1.5%<br><em>2016: </em>Rumen RADEV elected president in second round; percent of vote - Rumen RADEV (independent, supported by Bulgarian Socialist Party) 59.4%, Tsetska TSACHEVA (GERB) 36.2%, neither 4.5%<br><br><em>2011:</em> Rosen PLEVNELIEV elected president in the second round; percent of vote in the second round - Rosen PLEVNELIEV (independent) 52.6%, Ivailo KALFIN (BSP) 47.4%"
"text":"unicameral National Assembly or Narodno Sabranie (240 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by open list, proportional representation vote to serve 4-year terms)"
"text":"percent of vote by party/coalition - GERB-SDS 25.4%, PP-DB 23.5%, Revival 13.6%, DPS 13.2%, BSP for Bulgaria 8.6%, ITN 3.9%, other 11.8%; seats by party/coalition GERB-SDS 69, PP-DB 64, Revival 37, DPS 36, BSP for Bulgaria 23, ITN 11; composition - men 182, women 58, percent of women 24.2%"
"text":"Supreme Court of Cassation (consists of a chairman and approximately 72 judges organized into penal, civil, and commercial colleges); Supreme Administrative Court (organized into 2 colleges with various panels of 5 judges each); Constitutional Court (consists of 12 justices); note - Constitutional Court resides outside the judiciary"
},
"judge selection and term of office":{
"text":"Supreme Court of Cassation and Supreme Administrative judges elected by the Supreme Judicial Council or SJC (consists of 25 members with extensive legal experience) and appointed by the president; judges can serve until mandatory retirement at age 65; Constitutional Court justices elected by the National Assembly and appointed by the president and the SJC; justices appointed for 9-year terms with renewal of 4 justices every 3 years"
},
"subordinate courts":{
"text":"appeals courts; regional and district courts; administrative courts; courts martial"
"text":"Agrarian People's Union or ZNS [Roumen YONCHEV]<br>BSP for Bulgaria [Korneliya NINOVA] (alliance of BSP, PKT, Ecoglasnost)<br>Bulgaria of the Citizens or DBG [Dimitar DELCHEV]<br>Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union or BZNS [Nikolay NENCHEV]<br>Bulgarian Rise or BV [Stefan YANEV]<br>Bulgarian Socialist Party or BSP [Korneliya NINOVA]<br>Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria or GERB [Boyko BORISOV] (alliance with SDS)<br>Democratic Bulgaria or DB (alliance of Yes! Bulgaria, DSB, and The Greens) [Atanas ATANASOV, Hristo IVANOV]<br>Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria or DSB [Atanas ATANASOV]<br>Ecoglasnost [Emil GEORGIEV]<br>Green Movement or The Greens [Borislav SANDOV, Vladislav PENEV]<br>Middle European Class or SEC [Konstantin BACHIISKI]<br>Movement for Rights and Freedoms or DPS [Mustafa KARADAYI]<br>Movement 21 or D21 [Tatyana DONCHEVA]<br>New Dawn [Mincho MINCHEV]<br>Political Club Thrace or PKT [Stefan NACHEZ]<br>Political Movement \"Social Democrats\" or PDS [Elena NONEVA]<br>Revival [Kostadin KOSTADINOV]<br>Stand Up.BG or IS.BG [Maya MONOLOVA]<br>Stand Up.BG, We Are Coming! or IBG-NI [Maya MONOLOVA, Nikolay HADZHIGENOV] (coalition of IS.BG, D21, DBG, ENP, and ZNS)<br>There is Such a People or ITN [Slavi TRIFONOV]<br>United People's Party or ENP [Valentina VASILEVA-FILADELFEVS]<br>Union of Democratic Forces or SDS [Rumen HRISTOV] (alliance with GERB)<br>Yes! Bulgaria [Hristo IVANOV]<br>Volt Bulgaria or Volt [Nastimir ANANIEV]<br>We Continue the Change of PP [Kiril PETKOV and Asen VASILEV] (electoral alliance of PP, PDS, SEC, and Volt)"
"text":"three equal horizontal bands of white (top), green, and red; the pan-Slavic white-blue-red colors were modified by substituting a green band (representing freedom) for the blue",
"text":"Boyana Church (c); Madara Rider (c); Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak (c); Rock-Hewn Churches of Ivanovo (c); Rila Monastery (c); Ancient City of Nessebar (c); Thracian Tomb of Sveshtari (c); Srebarna Nature Reserve (n); Pirin National Park (n); Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians (n)"
"text":"upper-middle-income EU economy; improving living standards and very robust economic growth; coal-based infrastructure; legacy structural vulnerabilities and widespread corruption; increasing Russian economic relations, particularly through energy trade"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> defined by the EU's Maastricht Treaty as consolidated general government gross debt at nominal value, outstanding at the end of the year in the following categories of government liabilities: currency and deposits, securities other than shares excluding financial derivatives, and loans; general government sector comprises the subsectors: central government, state government, local government, and social security funds"
"text":"<p>Bulgaria’s telecom market was for some years affected by the difficult macroeconomic climate, as well as by relatively high unemployment and a shrinking population; these factors continue to slow investments in the sector, though revenue growth has returned since 2019; there still remains pressure on revenue growth, with consumers migrating from fixed-line voice telephony to mobile and VoIP alternatives, while the volume of SMS and MMS traffic has been affected by the growing use of alternative OTT messaging services; investing in network upgrades and its development of services based on 5G have stimulated other market players to invest in their own service provision; by the end of 2022 about 70% of the population is expected to be covered by 5G; the broadband market in Bulgaria enjoys excellent cross-platform competition; the share of the market held by DSL has fallen steadily as a result of customers being migrated to fiber networks; by early 2021 about 65% of fixed-line broadband subscribers were on fiber infrastructure; Bulgaria joins the U.S. State Department’s Clean Network initiative in a bid to protect its 5G communications networks</p> (2022)"
"text":"fixed-line over 11 per 100 persons, mobile-cellular teledensity, fostered by multiple service providers, is over 115 telephones per 100 persons (2021)"
"text":"country code - 359; Caucasus Cable System via submarine cable provides connectivity to Ukraine, Georgia and Russia; a combination submarine cable and land fiber-optic system provides connectivity to Italy, Albania, and Macedonia; satellite earth stations - 3 (1 Intersputnik in the Atlantic Ocean region, 2 Intelsat in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean regions) (2019)"
"text":"4 national terrestrial TV stations with 1 state-owned and 3 privately owned; a vast array of TV stations are available from cable and satellite TV providers; state-owned national radio broadcasts over 3 networks; large number of private radio stations broadcasting, especially in urban areas"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> unpaved runways have a surface composition such as grass or packed earth and are most suited to the operation of light aircraft; unpaved runways are usually short, often less than 1,000 m (3,280 ft.) in length; airports with unpaved runways often lack facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control"
"text":"Bulgarian Armed Forces (aka Bulgarian Army): Land Forces, Air Force, Navy<br><br>Ministry of Interior: General Directorate National Police (GDNP), General Directorate Border Police (GDBP), General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (GDCOC), Fire Safety and Civil Protection General Directorate, Special Unit for Combating Terrorism (SOBT) (2023)",
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> the GDMP includes the Gendarmerie, a special police force with military status deployed to secure important facilities, buildings and infrastructure, to respond to riots, and to counter militant threats"
"text":"the military's inventory consists primarily of Soviet-era equipment, although in recent years Bulgaria has procured limited amounts of more modern weapons systems from some Western countries (2023)"
"text":"18 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription ended in 2007; service obligation 6-9 months (2022)",
"note":"<strong>note 1:</strong> in 2021, women comprised about 17% of the Bulgarian military's full-time personnel<br><br><strong>note 2:</strong> in 2020, Bulgaria announced a program to allow every citizen up to the age of 40 to join the armed forces for 6 months of military service in the voluntary reserve"
"text":"Bulgaria became a member of NATO in 2004; Bulgaria conducts its own air policing mission, but because of Russian aggression in the Black Sea region, NATO allies have sent detachments of fighters to augment the Bulgarian Air Force since 2014 (2023)"
"note":"<strong>note:</strong> details about the history, aims, leadership, organization, areas of operation, tactics, targets, weapons, size, and sources of support of the group(s) appear(s) in Appendix-T"
"text":"Tier 2 Watch List — Bulgaria does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so; officials prosecuted significantly more suspected traffickers, ordered restitution, and drafted an annual national program with increased funding for combating trafficking and protecting victims; however, the government did not demonstrate overall increasing efforts to improve its anti-trafficking capacity; authorities investigated and convicted significantly fewer traffickers, the fewest since the government began reporting trafficking data; courts continued to issue suspended sentences for most convicted traffickers; victim identification and assistance data remained unreliable, making it difficult to accurately assess trafficking; authorities penalized victims for crimes traffickers compelled them to commit; lack of resources, legal authority, and training impeded law enforcement; corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary hindered progress, and alleged complicity in trafficking crimes persisted; therefore, Bulgaria was downgraded to Tier 2 Watch List (2022)"
},
"trafficking profile":{
"text":"human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Bulgaria, and traffickers exploit victims from Bulgaria abroad; Bulgaria remains one of the primary source countries of human trafficking in the EU; vulnerable groups include the unemployed, children in residential care, individuals working in commercial sex, and members of the Romani community; most victims are individuals with disabilities and those with mental health conditions; Bulgarian women and children are exploited in sex trafficking throughout Western Europe and Bulgaria; Bulgarians of Turkish ethnicity and Romani women and girls account for most of the sex trafficking victims in Bulgaria; traffickers typically exploit Bulgarian women and girls from poorer regions and increasingly use the internet or social media to recruit victims; family- or clan-based organizations and independent traffickers are overwhelmingly of Romani ethnicity and usually know the victims, who are also Roma; traffickers exploit Bulgarian men and boys in forced labor across Europe, predominantly in agriculture, construction, and the service sector; Romani children are exploited in forced labor, particularly begging and pick-pocketing in Austria, France, and Sweden; child trafficking cases reportedly are increasing; children are exploited in small family-owned shops, textile production, restaurants, and construction businesses, and some face sexual exploitation in government-run institutions; Ukrainian refugees are highly vulnerable to trafficking (2022)"
