Bulgaria, located in eastern Central Europe, is a country of diverse terrain and cultures. Bulgaria’s landscape ranges from the snowcapped mountains of the Rila and Pirin mountain ranges to Black Sea beaches, rivers and lakes. It is also rich in flora with more than 250 endemic plants (Rila primrose, Balkan violet, Rhodopean tulip) and fauna with pelicans, stags and wild goats populating the reserves and forests.

Ethnic Bulgarians descend from the merging of Bulgars, a central Asian Turkic people, and Slavs, a Central European people, beginning in the seventh century C.E. Bulgarians are a diverse population, with many ethnic groups, religions, philosophies and opinions. A rich historical legacy and unique natural beauty make Bulgaria a desirable place to live.

Bulgaria’s definite articles are a challenge to master. In English, a single word suffices to indicate a noun’s definiteness (“the tub”). In Bulgarian, however, the article – or rather, its morphological indicator of definiteness – is dependent on gender and grammatical case, making it more complex than in some other Slavic languages.

In addition, Bulgarian verbs have a complex system of forms that change according to number, aspect and mood. Bulgarian pronouns, which are the only parts of speech that have retained their case inflections, vary in gender and number as well. Finite verbal forms are simple or compound and agree with their subjects in person and number, while past compounds using participles vary in gender, number and voice as well as in aspect and mood.

Despite being part of the Indo-European family of languages, standard Bulgarian has more in common with South Slavic languages than with other Slavic varieties. It allows palatalization of consonants before front vowels but not before back ones, and does not allow reduction of /e/. Bulgarian is also unique among Slavic languages in that it has no sibilants, a sound typically associated with Latinate pronunciation.

Bulgaria has a high quality of life with a low cost of living, good education and health care and a well-developed infrastructure. It is home to world-class artists, writers and musicians.

Bulgaria is a member of the European Union and NATO and is committed to human rights and the rule of law. The Constitution guarantees equality of all citizens and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, national or social origin, sex, religion, political opinion, age, property, language or occupation. The government has pledged to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality through economic growth and social policies. Its education system is a priority and the government invests in new equipment, research and development. The state is also active in the fields of tourism and agriculture. The forestry industry has grown significantly and Bulgaria is an important producer of sunflowers, cotton and wine. The tourism sector employs approximately 200,000 people. Agriculture is a major contributor to GDP and provides an important source of employment for women, who make up nearly half the workforce. The country is rich in mineral resources, including lignite, coal and gold.