148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro
318 km (all with Serbia), Turkey 240 km

Coastline: 354 km

Maritime claims:
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
territorial sea: 12 nm

International disputes: none

Climate: temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers

Terrain: mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast

Natural resources: bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable
land

Land use:
arable land: 34%
permanent crops: 3%
meadows and pastures: 18%
forest and woodland: 35%
other: 10%

Irrigated land: 10 sq km (1989 est.)

Environment:
current issues: 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
natural hazards: earthquakes, landslides
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty,
Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Nuclear Test Ban,
Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands; signed, but not
ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Air Pollution-Volatile Organic
Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Climate
Change, Law of the Sea

Note: strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land
routes from Europe to Middle East and Asia

@Bulgaria:People

Population: 8,775,198 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 19% (female 800,413; male 841,697)
15-64 years: 66% (female 2,927,880; male 2,910,133)
65 years and over: 15% (female 735,706; male 559,369) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.25% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 11.75 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Death rate: 11.31 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Net migration rate: -2.91 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 11.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 73.68 years
male: 70.43 years
female: 77.1 years (1995 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.71 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Bulgarian(s)
adjective: Bulgarian

Ethnic divisions: Bulgarian 85.3%, Turk 8.5%, Gypsy 2.6%, Macedonian
2.5%, Armenian 0.3%, Russian 0.2%, other 0.6%

Religions: Bulgarian Orthodox 85%, Muslim 13%, Jewish 0.8%, Roman