Catholic 0.5%, Uniate Catholic 0.2%, Protestant, Gregorian-Armenian,
and other 0.5%

Languages: Bulgarian; secondary languages closely correspond to ethnic
breakdown

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1992)
total population: 98%
male: 99%
female: 97%

Labor force: 4.3 million
by occupation: industry 33%, agriculture 20%, other 47% (1987)

@Bulgaria:Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Bulgaria
conventional short form: Bulgaria

Digraph: BU

Type: emerging democracy

Capital: Sofia

Administrative divisions: 9 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast);
Burgas, Grad Sofiya, Khaskovo, Lovech, Montana, Plovdiv, Ruse, Sofiya,
Varna

Independence: 22 September 1908 (from Ottoman Empire)

National holiday: Independence Day 3 March (1878)

Constitution: adopted 12 July 1991

Legal system: based on civil law system, with Soviet law influence;
has accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Zhelyu Mitev ZHELEV (since 1 August 1990);
Vice President (vacant); election last held January 1992; results -
Zhelyu ZHELEV was elected by popular vote
head of government: Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime
Minister) Zhan VIDENOV (since 25 January 1995); Deputy Prime Ministers
Doncho KONAKCHIEV, Kiril TSOCHEV, Rumen GECHEV, Svetoslav SHIVAROV
(since 25 January 1995)
cabinet: Council of Ministers; elected by the National Assembly

Legislative branch: unicameral
National Assembly (Narodno Sobranie): last held 18 December 1994 (next
to be held NA 1997); results - BSP 43.5%, UDF 24.2%, PU 6.5%, MRF
5.4%, BBB 4.7%; seats - (240 total) BSP 125, UDF 69, PU 18, MRF 15,
BBB 13

Judicial branch: Supreme Court, Constitutional Court

Political parties and leaders: Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Zhan
VIDENOV, chairman; Union of Democratic Forces (UDF), Ivan KOSTOV an
alliance of pro-Democratic parties; People's Union (PU), Stefan SAVOV;
Movement for Rights and Freedoms (mainly ethnic Turkish party) (MRF),
Ahmed DOGAN; Bulgarian Business Bloc (BBB), George GANCHEV

Other political or pressure groups: Democratic Alliance for the
Republic (DAR); New Union for Democracy (NUD); Ecoglasnost; Podkrepa
Labor Confederation; Fatherland Union; Bulgarian Communist Party
(BCP); Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (KNSB);
Bulgarian Agrarian Na