The 2003 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
18 years of age (2003 est.)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15–49: 110,888 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 63,966 (2003 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 3,277 (2003 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$329.7 million (FY02)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
5% (FY02)
Transnational Issues Brunei
Disputes - international:
Involved in dispute over the Spratly Islands with China, Malaysia,
Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam; Brunei established an exclusive
economic fishing zone encompassing Louisa Reef in southern Spratly
Islands in 1984 but makes no public territorial claim to the
offshore reefs; claimants in November 2002 signed the "Declaration
on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea", a mechanism to
ease tension but which fell short of a legally binding "code of
conduct"
Illicit drugs:
drug trafficking and illegally importing controlled substances are
serious offenses in Brunei and carry a mandatory death penalty
This page was last updated on 18 December, 2003
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@Bulgaria
Introduction Bulgaria
Background:
The Bulgars, a Central Asian Turkic tribe, merged with the local
Slavic inhabitants in the late 7th century to form the first
Bulgarian state. In succeeding centuries, Bulgaria struggled with
the Byzantine Empire to assert its place in the Balkans, but by the
end of the 14th century the country was overrun by the Ottoman
Turks. Bulgaria regained its independence in 1878, but having fought
on the losing side in both World Wars, it fell within the Soviet
sphere of influence and became a People's Republic in 1946.
Communist domination ended in 1990, when Bulgaria held its first
multiparty election since World War II and began the contentious
process of moving toward political democracy and a market economy
while combating inflation, unemployment, corruption, and crime.
Today, reforms and democratization keep Bulgaria on a path toward
eventual integration into NATO and the EU - with which it began
accession negotiations in 2000.
Geography Bulgaria
Location:
Southeastern Europe, bordering the Black Sea, between Romania and
Turkey
Geographic coordinates:
43 00 N, 25 00 E
Map references:
Europe
Area:
total: 110,910 sq km
water: 360 sq km
land: 110,550 sq km
Area - comparative:
slightly larger than Tennessee
Land boundaries:
total: 1,808 km
border countries: Greece 494 km, The Former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia 148 km, Romania 608 km, Serbia and Montenegro 318 km,
Turkey 240 km
Coastline:
354 km
Maritime claims: contiguous zone: 24 NM exclusive economic zone: 200 NM territorial sea: 12 NM
Climate:
temperate; cold, damp winters; hot, dry summers
Terrain:
mostly mountains with lowlands in north and southeast
Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Black Sea 0 m
highest point: Musala 2,925 m
Natural resources:
bauxite, copper, lead, zinc, coal, timber, arable land
Land use: arable land: 39% permanent crops: 1.8% other: 59.2% (1998 est.)
Irrigated land:
8,000 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards:
earthquakes, landslides
Environment - current issues:
air pollution from industrial emissions; rivers polluted from raw
sewage, heavy metals, detergents; deforestation; forest damage from
air pollution and resulting acid rain; soil contamination from heavy
metals from metallurgical plants and industrial wastes
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air
Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85,
Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds, Antarctic-Environmental
Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Treaty,
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate
Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geography - note:
strategic location near Turkish Straits; controls key land routes
from Europe to Middle East and Asia
People Bulgaria
Population:
7,537,929 (July 2003 est.)
Age structure:
0–14 years: 14.2% (male 549,142; female 520,057)
15–64 years: 68.8% (male 2,551,548; female 2,632,978)
65 years and over: 17% (male 535,165; female 749,039) (2003 est.)
Median age:
total: 40.5 years
male: 38.4 years
female: 42.4 years (2002)
Population growth rate:
−1.09% (2003 est.)
Birth rate:
8.02 births/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Death rate:
14.34 deaths/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Net migration rate:
−4.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2003 est.)
Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female