16-10 The Economy of Bulgaria (1878-1939), summary
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This article is from the Bulgaria FAQ, by Dragomir R. Radev radev@tune.cs.columbia.edu with numerous contributions by others.
16-10 The Economy of Bulgaria (1878-1939), summary
(by Ivaylo Izvorski), last updated: 19-Mar-1996
Before starting with the economic issues, we make two short
diversion which will be useful down the line.
1. Territory
After the Berlin treaty (1878) the combined territory of the
Principality of Bulgaria (Knjazhestvo Bylgaria) and Eastern Roumelia
(Iztochna Rumelia) was 97,985.1 sq. km. Table 1 lists the (numerical)
changes in the total territory of Bulgaria between the years 1878 and
1939. The table, thus, does not include events such as the Krajova
agreement with Roumania in 1940 from which the territory of the
Kingdom was increased by 7,695.8 sq. km.
Table 1. Territory of Bulgaria (1878-1939) in sq. km
(last column is total area)
Berlin Congress (1878) Principality of Bulgaria 62,776.8 Eastern Roumelia 35,208.3 97,985.1 Carigrad Treaty (1886) Ceded to Turkey 1,639.6 96,345.5 Bukurest treaty (1914) Ceded to Roumania 7,695.8 Obtained from Turkey 23,187.2 111,836.9 Agreement with Turkey (1915) Obtained from Turkey 2,587.6 114,424.5 Treaty of Neuille (1919) Ceded to Yugoslavia 2,566.3 Ceded to Greece 8,712.0 103,146.2
2. Population
The population of the principality in 1881 was 2,852,600, in
1906 a little over 4 million, and in 1939 6,272,900. It is to be noted
that the population increase due to the increase in territory was
minimal - the total external increase in population from the 1913-1919
period was a mere 4,810 people. Much more significant was the
population increase with the Krajova aggreement (1940) of almost
300,000 people but this is outside the current survey.
It is interesting to compare the change in population over
1878-1939 with the change over 1944-1994. This is left as a homework
exercise for the reader.
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