ABSTRACT
Bulgaria is a small state with a land area of 110,550 square kilometres (about onefifth of the size of France or over two-fifths of the size of the UK). Its population has shrunk quite significantly during the post-Communist period, from 9 million in 1990 to 7.8 million in 2004. This is partly attributable to a dramatic fall in birth rates, as in most of the post-Communist states. In addition, however, an estimated 700,000 Bulgarians emigrated in the fifteen years from November 1989 to November 2004 (FT, Survey, 16 November 2004, p. 33).
