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Bulgaria is a land that abounds in natural beauty.

A central part of the Balkan Peninsula, Bulgaria is situated in south-eastern Europe. It faces the Black Sea to the east, Turkey and Greece to the south, Romania to the north and Serbia and Macedonia to the west. Some 38% of its 110,912 sq km of territory (about the size of Portugal) is arable land, with some 35% covered by forests. The Danube River, which crosses the north plains, forms most of Bulgaria's longest (608 km) border with Romania. The mountainous Greek border I the south is 494 km long.
LANDSCAPE: With its open expanses of flatland, spectacular rugged mountains traversed by deep valleys and rivers and pristine, sandy coastline, Bulgaria abounds in natural beauty. Almost a third of the country is situated 500 metres above sea level. Hikers and mountaineers are drawn by some 130 mountain peaks over 2000 metres in altitude. Meanwhile, a record number of visitors in 2004 went on holiday to Bulgaria, attracted by its 220-km coastline. Located at 550 metres above sea level and next to Vitosha Mountain, Sofia is the only capital in Europe that is within a 20-minute drive to a ski resort.
The country itself can be split up into three parallel east-west zones. Extending south-wards from the Romanian border lie the fertile Danubian plains. The central part of Bulgaria is dominated by the Stara Planina (the Old Mountains), the longest mountain range in the Balkans. Sometimes referred to as the Balkan range, it allegedly lent its name to the whole peninsula. It is intersected by the beautiful Valley of the Roses, home to the traditional rose oil industry.

In the south and southwest lie the famous Thracian Plain and the Rhodope and Pirin mountains. The highest mountain in the Balkan peninsula, Mount Musala (altitude 2925 metres) is located in this region. Mount Vihrin (altitude 2914 metres) is a close second. While nature has been generous to Bulgaria, the area is prone to earthquakes and landslides.

A literacy rate of 98% and the strong performances of Bulgarian scientists in international contests are often hailed as products of Bulgaria's excellent education traditions. At one time it was a centre for innovation in electronics and computer technology.

Basic compulsory education starts at the age of seven and consists of two stages: the first stage includes Form I to Form IV, and basic education second stage is from Form V to Form VII. All pupils are awarded a form of leaving certificate after each stage. Secondary education, which can last either four or five years, is offered in three types of schools: comprehensive schools, profile-oriented and technical and vocational-technical colleges. Higher education for bachelor's degree normally lasts four years.
Although education is compulsory only until the age of 16, about 80% choose to continue their education, with a high percentage completing tertiary education. Higher education institutions are entitled to train their students for all degrees, and there are a number of specialised technical universities, a medical university and a university of national and world economics. In total, Bulgaria has 43 universities and 45 colleges and technical schools.

Bulgarian is the official state language and is spoken by some 90% of the people. Belonging to the South Slavic group of languages, it is closely related to Serbo-Croatian, Slovene and Macedonian, all which were brought to the sub-Alpine and Balkan regions by migrating Slavs around 500 AD. The South Slavs took on some linguistic influences from the Latin-speaking peoples who lived in this area at the time, such as the Illyrians and Thracians. Many Turkish words were absorbed during the 500-year rule of the Ottoman Empire, and some Russian words were adopted during the communist era. Modern Bulgarian was moulded in the 19th century and is written in a slightly modified Cyrillic alphabet. It is largely based on the dialect of Bulgaria's former capital region, Tarnovo. Turkish is also spoken by ethnic minorities.

Bulgaria's natural resources are quite limited. It is almost entirely dependent on oil and gas imported from Russia. Locally extracted oil has been around 1000 barrels per day, just over 1% of total consumption.
Nevertheless, there are reasonably sized iron ore and non-ferrous ore deposits, such as copper, lead and zinc. The main sites of iron ore deposits are located near the Kremikovtsi steel factory in the Sofia region. Total deposits of iron ore are estimated at 317m tonnes. Nonferrous ore deposits of copper, lead, and zinc are mined in open cast mines in the Rhodope Mountains.

Bulgaria also has around 40 coal basins, most of which are lignite. All of them together amount to some 4.1 bn tonnes of proven recoverable reserves; coal is principally used by local thermal power stations. Meanwhile, deposits of bituminous and anthracite coal have almost been used up. Pernik basin, located south-west of the capital, and Maritsa, near Plovdiv, are the principal mining areas. Other mineral resources include rock salt, gypsum, limestone, dolomite, kaolin (china clay), asbestos, perlite, feldspar, fluorite and barite.