Language

Official language
Bulgarian (76.8%)

T-index
0.084%

T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales.

Other languages
Turkish (8.2%), Romany (3.8%), Macedonian (2.6%), other (8.6%).

English
High proficiency (EF) – 21 of 112 countries/regions in the world- 18/35 position in Europe.

Demography

Capital: Sofia
Currency:  Bulgarian lev
Population: 6,87 m
Population density: 64/km2

Economy

GDP: 84.06 USD (2020)
GDP per capita: 12,221.5 USD ‎(2020) ‎
Exports: $33.2 billion (2020)

Statistics

Internet users: 70% penetration, 5.36 million
Unemployment rate: 5.3% (2021)
Urbanisation: 76.3% (2020)
Literacy: 98% (2021)

Conventions

Numbering system
Arabic numerals and comma as decimal separator, space as thousands separator

Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code:  00359

Economy

Imports
$34.8 billion (2020).  Copper Ore ($1.62B), Crude Petroleum ($1.42B), Packaged Medicaments ($1.3B), Cars ($1.19B), and Broadcasting Equipment ($675M), importing mostly from Germany ($3.99B), Turkey ($2.63B), Romania ($2.59B), Italy ($2.29B), and Russia ($2.15B).

Financial inclusion factors (over 15 years of  age)
• 72% have an account with a financial institution
• 14% have a credit card
• 26% make online purchases

Ease of doing business
It is very easy to conduct business (rated 72 out of 100) ranked 17th out of 44 European countries, and ranked 61st out of 190 countries worldwide (2022, World Bank).

Global Innovation Index
Ranked 8th out of 39 European countries, and 11th out of 132 worldwide.

The Global Innovation Index captures the innovation
ecosystem performance of 132 economies and tracks the most recent global innovation trends.

Exports
$33.2 billion (2020).  Refined Copper ($1.2B), Packaged Medicaments ($1.08B), Refined Petroleum ($1.02B), Raw Copper ($1.01B), and Precious Metal Ore ($761M), exporting mostly to Germany ($5.31B), Romania ($2.94B), Italy ($2.51B), Turkey ($2.1B), and Greece ($2.01B).

Main local online stores
olx.bg, bazar.bg and aliexpress.com., emag.bg and alo.bg

Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (rated 69.3 out of 100) ranked 19th out of 43 European countries and ranked 32nd out of 186 countries worldwide (2022, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).

Media

Media language
Bulgarian, English

Information channels:
Global media giants have a stake in Bulgaria’s lively broadcasting market. TV is the most popular medium. International media group CME runs bTV, Bulgaria’s most-watched channel. Scandinavian company MTG operates the national station Nova TV. There are several private regional TVs and many private radio stations. Cable and satellite are the main distribution platforms. Media ownership is concentrated among a handful of individuals. Bulgaria is the lowest-ranked EU state in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) 2015 Press Freedom Index. Journalists “routinely shape their reporting to suit the political and economic interests of owners or major advertisers” says the US-based Freedom House.

The press

Dnevnik – daily
24 Chasa – daily
Telegraf – daily
Trud – daily
Presa – daily
Monitor – daily
Standart – daily
Sega – daily
Kapital – political, economic weekly

Television

BNT (Bulgarian National Television) – public, runs two national and four regional channels and satellite TV for diaspora
bTV – private, national
Nova TV – private, national

Radio

BNR (Bulgarian National Radio) – public, operates flagship network Horizont, cultural network Hristo Botev, regional stations
Darik Radio – private, national
BG Radio – private, national

Agence France Presse (AFP) – Paris-based, founded in 1835

News Agency

Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) – state-owned agency, English-language pages
Dir.bg – news site
Novinite – English-language news site
Mediapool – news site
Focus – online news site, English-language pages

Social statistics

Life expectancy
74 yrs (2020)

Health expenditure
7.13% of GDP

Average age of the population
44.6 yrs (2020)