has fluctuated but not widely. Until 1910 it was high. It
dropped during the 1910-20 decade, which included the Balkan wars and
World War I. The period of greatest growth occurred between the great
wars, and the three decades since 1941 have been the periods of least
growth.

Vital statistics supplied by the Bulgarian government to the United
Nations in 1972 indicated an annual growth rate of 0.7 percent. This was
based on 16.3 births per each 1,000 of the population, as against 9.1
deaths. Infant mortality, included in the overall death rate, was 27.3
deaths during the first year for each 1,000 live births. In early 1973
the government was alarmed at an apparent change in the statistical
trend. Complete information for 1971 showed that, instead of 16.3 births
per 1,000, the actual figure was 15.9. Indications were that in 1972 it
was dropping to 15.4.

Internal migrations since 1878 have consisted largely of the initial
movement of the rural population from the hills to the plains and the
later movement of people from the rural areas to the towns. External
migrations have been more complex. The earliest occurred in the
aftermath of the liberation; later ones have resulted from the
animosities and territorial changes associated with the various wars in
which the country has been involved.

Having occupied the territory, Turks left in wholesale numbers when they
lost control of it. More of them departed during the Balkan wars. Large
groups emigrated in the 1920s and 1930s, and more were forced to leave
after World War II. Estimates as to the numbers involved in each move
vary widely; the two largest after 1880 were those in the 1920s and
after World War II, and the total in all emigrations of Turks probably
equals or exceeds the 700,000 that remain in the country. Natural
population increases have been such that, over the long term, the actual
number of Turks in the country has changed relatively little.

There have been smaller population exchanges with each of the other
neighbors. In the mid-1920s about 250,000 Bulgarians moved from Greek
Thrace into Bulgaria, and about 40,000 Greeks left Bulgaria for Greece.
After 1940, when southern Dobrudzha was annexed from Romania, some
110,000 Romanians were exchanged for about 62,000 Bulgarians.
Macedonians, also in considerable numbers, have chosen between Bulgaria
and Yugoslavia, requiring many of them to move.

The Jewish people, faring much better in Bulgaria during Wo