The People
Population: 8.38 million (1996)
Men: 48.9%
Women: 51.1%
Capital: Sofia 1.2 million
Growth rate: - 0.02% (between 1985 and 1994) - one of the lowest
in the world
Life expectancy: 71 years
Men: 61 years
Women: 75 years
Average age: 38 years
Rural: 32.2%
Urban: 67.8%
Age distribution:
Workforce: 43.9%
Unemployed: 11.1%
Students: 2.6%
Retired: 13.1% |
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Demography
Contemporary ethnic Bulgarians, about 85.3% of the population, are
a mixture of the Slavs already settled in the Balkans and the Bulgars
who came to the area from Central Asia during the Western Roman
Empire and established a strong state in the land of the Thracians.
They are almost exclusively Bulgarian Orthodox Christians, and speak
Bulgarian, a Slavic language written with the Cyrillic alphabet.
Muslim ethnic Turks, the human residue of 500 years of Ottoman rule,
are the largest minority, making up 8.5% of the population. Many
consider Turkish to be their first language.
About 2.6% of the population are Gypsies, about half of whom are
Christian and half Muslim. There are small ethnic groups of Armenians,
Macedonians, Jews, Russians and Greeks making up for the remaining
3.6%. All Bulgarians were required to learn Russian at school until
1989; most prefer not to speak it, and many will not. English is
the most common second language, especially among the young, then
German and French, distantly followed by Italian and Spanish. |
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Religion and Ethnic Groups
The official religion in Bulgaria is Eastern Orthodox Christianity.
In the Republic of Bulgaria there is full freedom of religion.
This democratic concept is also written in the Bulgarian Constitution.
Ethnic groups: Bulgarians - 88.3%, Turks - 8.0%, Gypsies -
2.6%, Armenians - 0.3%, Russians – 0.2%, others – 0.6%. |
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