Zenit Spedition
Destination Bulgaria

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Bulgaria - brief overview about the Zenit destination Bulgaria.

Geopraphy

Geographically and in terms of climate, Bulgaria features notable diversity with the landscape ranging from the Alpine snow-capped peaks in Rila, Pirin and the Balkan Mountains to the mild and sunny Black Sea coast; from the typically continental Danubian Plain (ancient Moesia) in the north to the strong Mediterranean climatic influence in the valleys of Macedonia and in the lowlands in the southernmost parts of Thrace. Bulgaria has large deposits of manganese ore in the north-east and of uranium in the south-west, as well as vast coal reserves and copper, lead, zinc and gold ore. Smaller deposits exist of iron, silver, chromite, nickel, bismuth and others. Bulgaria has abundant non-metalliferous minerals such as rock-salt, gypsum, kaolin and marble.
The country has a dense network of about 540 rivers, most of them—with the notable exception of the Danube—short and with low water-levels.[9] Most rivers flow through mountainous areas. The longest river located solely in Bulgarian territory, the Iskar, has a length of 368 km (229 mi). Other major rivers include the Struma and the Maritsa River in the south.
The Rila and Pirin mountain ranges feature around 260 glacial lakes; the country also has several large lakes on the Black Sea coast and more than 2,200 dam lakes. Many mineral springs exist, located mainly in the south-western and central parts of the country along the faults between the mountains.
Precipitation in Bulgaria averages about 630 millimetres (24.8 in) per year. In the lowlands rainfall varies between 500 and 800 mm (19.7 and 31.5 in), and in the mountain areas between 1,000 and 1,400 mm (39.4 and 55.1 in) of rain falls per year. Drier areas include Dobrudja and the northern coastal strip, while the higher parts of the Rila, Pirin, Rhodope Mountains, Stara Planina, Osogovska Mountain and Vitosha receive the highest levels of precipitation.

Demographics

The population of Bulgaria is 7,364,570 people according to the 2011 national census. The majority of the population, or 72.5 percent, reside in urban areas;[265] approximately one-sixth of the total population is concentrated in Sofia.[266][267] Bulgarians are the main ethnic group and comprise 84.8 percent of the population. Turkish and Roma minorities comprise 8.8 and 4.9 percent, respectively; some 40 smaller minorities comprise 0.7 percent, and 0.8 percent do not self-identify with an ethnic group.[1] Distribution of languages of Bulgaria (2001)[268] Bulgarian 84.5%, Turkish 9.6%, Roma (Gypsy) 4.1% others 0.9%, undeclared 0.9%.
Language
All ethnic groups speak Bulgarian, either as a first or as a second language. Bulgarian is the only language with official status and native for 85.2 percent of the population. The oldest written Slavic language, Bulgarian is distinguishable from the other languages in this group through certain grammatical peculiarities such as the lack of noun cases and infinitives, and a suffixed definite article

Economy

Bulgaria has an industrialised, open free market economy, with a large, moderately advanced private sector and a number of strategic state-owned enterprises. The World Bank classifies it as an "upper-middle-income economy". Bulgaria has experienced rapid economic growth in recent years, even though it continues to rank as the lowest-income member state of the EU. According to Eurostat data, Bulgarian PPS GDP per capita stood at 40 per cent of the EU average in 2008. The United States Central Intelligence Agency estimated Bulgarians' GDP per capita at $12,900 in 2008,or about a third that of Belgium. The economy relies primarily on industry and agriculture, although the services sector increasingly contributes to GDP growth. Bulgaria produces a significant amount of manufactures and raw materials such as iron, copper, gold, bismuth, coal, electronics, refined petroleum fuels, vehicle components, weapons and construction materials.
Due to high-profile allegations of corruption, and an apparent lack of willingness to tackle high-level corruption, the European Union has partly frozen EU funds of about €450 million and may freeze more if Bulgarian authorities do not show solid progress in fighting corruption.
Bulgaria tamed its inflation after the deep economic crisis in 1996–1997, but 2008 figures showed an increase in the inflation-rate to 12.5% for 2007. The unemployment rate declined from more than 17% in the mid 1990s to nearly 7% in 2007, but in some rural areas it still continues in high double digits. Bulgaria's inflation means that the country's adoption of the euro might not take place until the year 2013–2014.
Amidst the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, Bulgarian unemployment rates remained relatively low at 6.3% for 2008, but increased to almost 8% in 2009. GDP growth in 2008 remained high (6%), but turned largely negative in 2009. The crisis had a negative impact mostly on industry, with a 10% decline in the national industrial production index, a 31% drop in mining, and a 60% drop in "ferrous and metal production". The government predicts a decline of 2.2% of GDP in 2010, with a budget deficit of 0.7%.

Climate

Bulgaria overall has a temperate climate, with cold winters and hot summers. The barrier effect of the Balkan Mountains has some influence on climate throughout the country: northern Bulgaria experiences lower temperatures and receives more rain than the southern lowlands. Bulgaria comprises portions of the regions known in classical times as Moesia, Thrace, and Macedonia. The mountainous southwest of the country has two alpine ranges — Rila and Pirin — and further east stand the lower but more extensive Rhodope Mountains. The Rila range includes the highest peak of the Balkan Peninsula, Musala, at 2,925 metres (9,596 ft); the long range of the Balkan mountains runs west-east through the middle of the country, north of the famous Rose Valley. Hilly country and plains lie to the southeast, along the Black Sea coast, and along Bulgaria's main river, the Danube, to the north. Strandzha is the tallest mountain in the southeast. Few mountains and hills exist in the northeast region of Dobrudzha. The Balkan Peninsula derives its name from the Balkan or Stara planina mountain range running through the centre of Bulgaria and extends into eastern Serbia.

Infrastructure

Bulgaria occupies a unique and strategically important geographic location. Since ancient times, the country has served as a major crossroads between Europe, Asia and Africa. Five of the ten Trans-European corridors run through its territory.

The national road network has a total length of 102,016 km (63,390 mi), 93,855 km (58,319 mi) of them paved and 441 km (274 mi) of them motorways. Planning or construction has started for several motorways: Trakiya motorway, Hemus motorway, Cherno More motorway, Struma motorway, Maritza motorway and Lyulin motorway. Bulgaria also has 6,500 km (4,000 mi) of railway track, more than 60% electrified. A €360,000,000 project exists for the modernisation and electrification of the Plovdiv–Kapitan Andreevo railway. The only high-speed railway in the region, between Sofia and Vidin, will operate by 2017, at a cost of €3,000,000,000.
Air travel has developed relatively comprehensively. Bulgaria has six official international airports — at Sofia, Burgas, Varna, Plovdiv, Rousse and Gorna Oryahovitsa. After the fall of the communist government in 1989, most of the smaller domestic airports stood unused as the importance of domestic flights declined. The country has many military airports and agricultural airfields, with 128 of the 213 airports in Bulgaria paved.
The most important shipping ports by far, Varna and Burgas, have the largest turnover. Burgas, Sozopol, Nesebar and Pomorie support large fishing fleets. Large ports on the Danube River include Rousse and Lom (which serves the capital).
Bulgaria has a well-developed communications network (despite a somewhat antiquated fixed-line telephone system), with extensive Internet and cellular communications. The years after 2000 saw a rapid increase in the number of Internet users: in 2000, they numbered 430,000, in 2004 – 1,545,100, and in 2006 – 2.2 million. The population of 7,6 million people uses some 11 million cellphones.

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More Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgaria
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