CHAPTER 5: Bulgaria - Raising Digital Literacy through a Country-wide Network of Telecentres Table 5: Bulgaria Country profile • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Population: 7,446,100 GDP per capita in PPP terms (constant 2005 international dollars): 11,456 GNI per capita (constant 2005 international dollars): 11,412 Household final consumption expenditure per capita (constant 2000 international dollars): 1,796* Population living below $1.25 PPP per day (percent): 1.0 Life expectancy at birth (years): 73.4 Under-five mortality (per 1,000 live births): 10 Expenditure on public health as a percentage of GDP: 4.2 Adult literacy rate, both sexes (percent aged 15 and above): 98.3 Mean years of schooling (of adults over 25): 10.6 years Combined gross enrolment ratio in education (both sexes, percent): 78.1 Expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP: 4.1 Gender Inequality Index: 0.245 Population with at least secondary education (female/male ratio): 0.979 Labour force participation rate (female/male ratio): 0.787 Shares in parliament (female-male ratio): 0.263
Sources: * World Bank World Development Indicators, 2012. All other figures from UNDP’s Human Development Report 2011. See Table 1 for further explanation of categories.
Country background Social and economic indicators Bulgaria is the wealthiest of the countries in this study, with a per capita GDP of $11,456 and a population of almost 7.5 million. It ranks 55th on the HDI and, like Albania, is also considered a ‘high human development’ country by the HDR. Perhaps owing to its relative wealth, less than two percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, although 10.6 percent lives below the poverty line.61 Like Albania, Bulgaria also has a high adult literacy rate, at 98.3 percent. In terms of gender equity, Bulgaria ranks 40 out of 146 countries in the GII of the HDR, just above Albania (41) and above the median internationally. Bulgaria falls slightly below Albania in other life indicators, having the second highest life expectancy of the countries in this report, at 73.4 years, and the second highest probability at birth of surviving to age 60 (see Table 5 and Annex 1 for a comparison of social and economic indicators by country).
Political structure and history Like Albania, Bulgaria was part of the Eastern Bloc of communist states in Eastern and Central Europe until 1989. In 1990, it began its transition to a parliamentary democracy, passing a new constitution, instituting multi-party elections and opening the economy to market-driven reforms. The ruling communist party (which became the Bulgarian Socialist Party) won the first elections in 1990. In 1991, the first fully democratic parliamentary elections were held, bringing the Union of Democratic Forces to power, followed by the first direct presidential elections in 1992.62 Bulgaria suffered political instability and strikes throughout the 1990s, culminating in a severe economic and financial crisis in late 1996 and early 1997. With international support, the prime minister (at the time, Ivan Kostov) initiated a series of reforms that stabilized the economy and began Bulgaria’s integration into Europe. The country held elections in 2001, bringing in a new government, a new president and further market liberalization.63 The economy began to grow, inflation was brought under control, and unemployment fell from nearly 20 percent to 9.5 percent in 2010.64 Bulgaria became a member of NATO in 2004 and a member of the EU in 2007.
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