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.
Full Name: Republic of Bulgaria
Area: 110,910 sq km (water: 360 sq km, land: 110,550 sq km)
Population: 7,262,675 (July 2008 est.)
Capital City: Sofia
People: Bulgarian 83.9%, Turk 9.4%, Roma 4.7%, other 2% (including Macedonian, Armenian, Tatar, Circassian) (2001 census)
Language: Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma 4.1%, other and unspecified 1.8% (2001 census)
Religion: Bulgarian Orthodox 82.6%, Muslim 12.2%, other Christian 1.2%, other 4% (2001 census)
Government Type: Parliamentary democracy
Chief of State President Georgi PURVANOV (since 22 January 2002); Vice President Angel MARIN (since 22 January 2002)
Head of Government: Prime Minister Sergei STANISHEV (since 16 August 2005); Deputy Prime Minister Ivaylo KALFIN (since 16 August 2005)
GDP: $US 86.71 billion (2007 est.)
GDP per Capita: $US 11,800 (2007 est.)
Inflation: 9.8% (2007 est.)
Unemployment: 7.7% (2007 est.)
Industries: Electricity, gas and water; food, beverages and tobacco; machinery and equipment, base metals, chemical products, coke, refined petroleum, nuclear fuel
Currency: lev (BGL)
Member of EU: Yes
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