COUNTRY OVERVIEW
Situation: Bulgaria is situated in the South - East part of Europe, and in the Eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. It has a total surface of 110 912 km2. In the North its border goes along the Danube, in the East it is bounded by the Black Sea, in the South its neighboring countries are Turkey and Greece, and in the West – Macedonia and Serbia. Bulgaria is divided into 6 planning regions – North-West, North Central, North-East, South-East, South Central and South-East. Apart of them the country has 27 administrative regions. The capital of Bulgaria is Sofia.
Population: Bulgaria has 7 973 671 inhabitants, from which 5 500 695 live in towns.
Political system: Bulgaria is a Parliamentary Republic and the basic power in the country is the legislative one. The National Assembly (The Parliament) exercises the legislative power, as well as the right to parliamentary control, and has 4 years mandate. The Constitution provides a multi- party parliamentary system and free elections, in which all the citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria take part with the right to vote. After the elections, the largest parliamentary group constructs the government – the Council of Ministers. The President is the Head of State and is elected with direct elections once in every five years, for not more that two mandates.
Climate: The climate in Northern Bulgaria is moderate continental, while the climate in Southern Bulgaria is intermediate continental tending to Mediterranean. The climate in the regions with an altitude of 1900-2000 m above sea level is mountainous and along the Black Sea coast it is maritime.
Currency: The currency unit in Bulgaria is the Bulgarian Lev (plural form ? leva /levs/) or BGN. 1 lev = 100 stotinki.
Public holidays: The following days are official public holidays:
- 1 January – New year
- 3 March – Day of the liberation of Bulgaria from Osman slavery
- 1 May – Labour Day
- 6 May – St. George, Day of the courage and the Bulgarian armee
- 24 May – Day of Bulgarian education and culture and of the Cyrillic alphabet
- 6 September – Day of the unification of Bulgaria
- 22 September – Day of Bulgarian independence
- 1 November – Day of the people’s awaker
- 24 December – Christmas eve
- 25 and 26 December – Christmas
- Eastern – 2 days – Sunday and Monday determined by Bulgarian Church
