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Country information

General overview

  • Area: 110,993.6 km2
  • Population: 6,519,789 million (51.90% women)
  • Capital: Sofia (population: 1,274,290)
  • Largest cities and number of inhabitants: Plovdiv (634,497), Varna (432,198), Burgas (380,286).
  • Official language: Bulgarian (Alphabet: Cyrillic)
  • Regions: 6 – Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Blagoevgrad (6 districts, 255 towns and 5,047 villages)

Historically, Bulgaria belongs to the group of countries in which the majority of the population is connected with Eastern Orthodoxy. After World War II, the Orthodox believers in Bulgaria were about 85% of its population and the members of the second religious community in importance, Muslims, were about 13%. Since the 2011 census, Bulgarian citizens have obtained the right to mention or not their religious identity. Thus, the share of the different religious communities is now estimated based on the number of people who have declared their religious affiliation and not in relation to the total population, which needs to be taken into account when comparing with earlier percentages. According to the 2021 census, there are 64.7% of Christians (mostly Orthodox) and 9.8% of Muslims (mostly Sunni) in the country.

D 22 May 2023    ADaniela Kalkandjieva

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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