Republic of Bulgaria is a country in southeast Europe. It is placed in the eastern half of the Balkan Peninsula. It borders with the Black Sea on east, Greece and Turkey on south, Serbia and Republic of Macedonia on west and Romania on north, divided by the Danube River. The overall length of the state border is 2245 km, 1181 km are terrestrial, 686 km – river and 378 – naval.
State government
Bulgaria is parliamentary republic. The Bulgarian one chamber parliament, National Assembly consists of 240 people representatives, elected for 4 years term.
The Parliament accepts laws, approves the budged, schedules president elections, selects and recalls the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, ratifies international treaties and agreements.
The President of the Republic is elected directly for 5 years term with the right of one re-election. He is head of the state, supreme commander of the armed forces and chairman of the Consultative council for national security.
Republic of Bulgaria is NATO member since 29th March 2004.
Since January 1st 2007 the country is full-right member of the European Union.
Population
According the census from 2011 the population of the country is 7 364 570 people. 84.8% from the population are Bulgarians, as the two biggest minorities are the Turkish (8.8%) and Roma (4.9%). The rest 1.5% include several smaller minorities – Armenians, Russians, Romanians, Ukrainians, Greeks and Jews. 85.2% from the population speaks Bulgarian which is the official language for the country.
The majority of the Bulgarian people are Christians. Most of them (82.6%) are Eastern Orthodox, 1.7% are catholic and 1.6% are protestants. 12.2% of the population profess Islam (mostly ethnic Turks) and 0.8% – Judaism.
Republic of Bulgaria is administratively divided in 28 districts, as the capitol Sofia is separate district.
Climate
The climate in Bulgaria is temperate continental with 4 seasons. In the winter the average temperature is 0°C (32 Fahrenheit), and in the summer 23°C (73,4 Fahrenheit). The average yearly temperature is 10,5°C(50,9 Fahrenheit).
History
Established in 681 AD, Bulgaria is one of the oldest countries in Europe. The history of the country is defined mostly by its geographic placement – at the border between Europe and Asia.
Bulgaria accepts Christianity in 864 AD during the rule of Knyaz Boris I Mikhail.
The alphabetic system in Bulgaria is Cyrillic, one of the most used writing systems from approximately 252 million people in Eurasian space.
In 1396 the Ottoman Empire finally conquers the Second Bulgarian Kingdom, which is established in 1185.