Bulgaria

A

Population Characteristics

Bulgaria has a population of 7,322,858 (2007 estimate). At the 1985 census the population was 8,950,000, and the subsequent decrease is partly attributed to the mass migration of Turks fleeing government persecution in the late 1980s. Population density is about 66 people per sq km (171 people per sq mi).

B

Political Divisions

Bulgaria is divided into 28 administrative regions, including the capital, Sofia.

C

Principal Cities

Sofia is the largest city, with a population of 1,194,164 (2002 estimate). Other major cities are Plovdiv, population 340,638 (2001), a centre for light industry; and Varna, 314,539 (2001), the principal seaport.

D

Religion

For more than 40 years under Communist rule the Bulgarian government discriminated against practising believers, and promoted atheism, to which an estimated 65 per cent of the population subscribed in the early 1980s. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, a branch of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was attended by about 27 per cent of the population. The government reforms of the late 1980s loosened religious restrictions, and by the early 1990s more than 80 per cent of the population claimed affiliation to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Other religious groups include Muslims, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Jews.

E

Language

The official language is Bulgarian, a first language for about 85 per cent of the population. Turkish is also spoken, by about 9 per cent of the population as a mother tongue. Other languages spoken as mother tongues include: Balkan Romani (187,900 speakers; an Indo-Iranian language); Gagauz (12,000; a Turkic language, see Altaic Languages); Crimean Turkish (6,000); Macedo Romanian (2,000 to 3,000); and Gheg Albanian (1,000).