Portal:Bulgaria

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Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey to the south, Serbia and North Macedonia to the west, and Romania to the north. It covers a territory of 110,994 square kilometres (42,855 sq mi) and is the sixteenth-largest country in Europe. Sofia is the nation's capital and largest city; other major cities include Burgas, Plovdiv, and Varna.

Since adopting a democratic constitution in 1991, Bulgaria has been a unitary parliamentary republic composed of 28 provinces, with a high degree of political, administrative, and economic centralisation. Bulgaria has a high-income economy with a market economy that is part of the European Single Market and is largely based on services, followed by manufacturing and mining—and agriculture. The country has been influenced by its role as a transit country for natural gas and oil pipelines, as well as its strategic location on the Black Sea. Bulgaria's foreign relations have been shaped by its geographical location and its modern membership in the European Union and NATO. (Full article...)

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The economy of Bulgaria functions on the principles of the free market, having a large private sector and a smaller public one. Bulgaria is a developing, industrialised high-income country according to the World Bank, and is a member of the European Union (EU), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC). The Bulgarian economy has experienced significant growth (538%), starting from $13.15 billion (nominal, 2000) and reaching estimated gross domestic product (GDP) of $107 billion (nominal, 2024 est.) or $229 billion (PPP, 2024 est.), GDP per capita of $36,000 (PPP, 2024 est.), average gross monthly salary of 2,310 leva (1,181 euro) (May 2024), and average net monthly salary of $2,191 (adjusted for living costs in PPP) (Q2 2024).^{[circular reference]} The national currency is the lev (plural leva), pegged to the euro at 1.95583 leva for 1 euro. The lev is the strongest and most stable currency in Eastern Europe.

The strongest sectors in the economy are energy, mining, metallurgy, machine building, agriculture and tourism. Primary industrial exports are clothing, iron and steel, machinery and refined fuels. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated)

... that basketball player Charel Allen was a five-time Bulgarian Cup champion despite knowing only a few words of Bulgarian?
... that during the 1899–1900 peasant unrest in Bulgaria, some troops refused orders to fire on the protesters?
... that Tsvetana Jermanova survived imprisonment in two forced labour camps in communist Bulgaria?
... that Will Wood conducted a Bulgarian choir via Zoom for "White Noise"?

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Gallery

Image 1Varna lake is a salt lake near Black sea.
Image 2Maritsa is a river in South Bulgaria.
Image 3Sofia is the biggest city in Bulgaria.
Image 4A beach in Bulgaria.
Image 5Rila is a mountain in West Bulgaria
Image 6Danube river in Bulgaria
Image 7Razgrad is a city in East Bulgaria.

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Credit: Luca

The Belogradchik Rocks (Bulgarian: Белоградчишки скали, Belogradchishki skali) is a group of bizarre sandstone and limestone rock formations, reaching up to 200 m in height. The rocks were declared a natural landmark in 1949.

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More did You Know?

...that the chitalishte (community centre) in Novo Selo (pictured), constructed in 1930, is also a memorial to locals who perished in war?

...that Hadzhi Dimitar was one of the most prominent Bulgarian voivods and revolutionary workers for the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman rule?