The People

Bulgarians are basically Slavs of the Southern Slavic branch. Their name, however, comes from their Bulgar ancestors—Asiatic invaders who were assimilated into a much larger Slavic population.

Bulgaria's population was 8,472,724 in 1992. Most of the people are Bulgarians; probably fewer than 10 per cent are Turks. Other minorities include Gypsies, Jews, Macedonians, Armenians, and Romanians.

The Bulgarian language belongs to the Slavic family, and is similar to Serbo-Croatian and Russian. The Cyrillic alphabet is used.

Most Bulgarians belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which is headed by its own patriarch. The Turks are Muslims. There are about 80,000 Bulgarian Muslims, called Pomaks. Other religious groups are Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Armenian Christians.

Elementary education is free and compulsory from 7 to 16. Most Bulgarian children continue their education beyond age 16. They have a free choice of secondary schools—general, vocational, or trade. About 98 per cent of the population is literate. There are universities at Sofia, Plovdiv, and Veliko Turnovo.