Editing Bulgarians

{{short description|South Slavic ethnic group living in the Balkans}}
{{About|the South Slavic ethnic group|the medieval Turkic tribes|Bulgars|other uses|Bulgarians (disambiguation)}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Bulgarians
| native_name      = българи<br />{{small|bŭlgari}}
| image            = 
| caption          = 
| population       = {{circa}} '''9 million'''<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA271 |title=Native Bulgarian people's of the World |isbn=9781317464006 |last1=Danver |first1=Steven L. |date=2015-03-10 |publisher=Routledge |access-date=4 November 2016 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200421/https://books.google.com/books?id=vf4TBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA271#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Cole>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M9fDifnkMJMC&pg=PA55|title=Ethnic Groups of Europe: An Encyclopedia|isbn=9781598843033|last1=Cole|first1=Jeffrey E.|author-link1=Jeffrey Cole|date=2011-05-25|publisher=Abc-Clio|access-date=4 November 2016|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200421/https://books.google.com/books?id=M9fDifnkMJMC&pg=PA55|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Map of the Bulgarian Diaspora in the World.svg|center|frameless|260x260px]]
| popplace         = {{flagcountry|Bulgaria}} 5,118,494 (2021)<ref>Етнокултурни характеристики на населението към 7 септември 2021 година, [https://www.nsi.bg/bg/content/19874/прессъобщение/етнокултурни-характеристики-на-населението-към-7-септември-2021-година НСИ.]</ref>
| region1          = {{flagcountry|Germany}}
| pop1             = 436,860{{Cref|n}} (2023)
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/Bevoelkerung/MigrationIntegration/AuslaendBevoelkerung2010200167004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile |title=Bevölkerung und Erwerbstätigkeit – Ausländische Bevölkerung, Ergebnisse des Ausländerzentralregisters (2020) |access-date=22 July 2017 |archive-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170915102254/https://www.destatis.de/DE/Publikationen/Thematisch/Bevoelkerung/MigrationIntegration/AuslaendBevoelkerung2010200167004.pdf?__blob=publicationFile |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region3          = {{flagcountry|Ukraine}}
| pop3             = 204,574{{Cref|e}}–500,000 (2001)
| ref3             = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/nationality_population/nationality_1/s5/?botton=cens_db&box=5.1W&k_t=00&p=20&rz=1_1&rz_b=2_1%20&n_page=2|title=Ukrainian 2001 census|publisher=ukrcensus.gov.ua|access-date=2008-04-28|archive-date=26 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626111744/http://2001.ukrcensus.gov.ua/eng/results/nationality_population/nationality_1/s5/?botton=cens_db&box=5.1W&k_t=00&p=20&rz=1_1&rz_b=2_1|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bulgarians in Ukraine|url=http://www.parliament.bg/bg/news/ID/2098|website=Bulgarian Parliament|access-date=21 October 2015|language=bg|archive-date=11 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911071205/http://www.parliament.bg/bg/news/ID/2098|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region4          = {{flagcountry|Argentina}}
| pop4             = 70-80,000 (2020)
| ref4             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.24chasa.bg/bulgaria/article/8405931|title=Идва ли краят на изнасянето от България?|website=24chasa.bg|access-date=13 July 2022|language=bg|archive-date=13 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220713140059/https://www.24chasa.bg/bulgaria/article/8405931|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region5          = {{flagcountry|Spain}}
| pop5             = 300,000 (2017)
| ref5             = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=/t20/e245/p04/provi/l0/&file=00000010.px|title=TablaPx|website=Ine.es|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=25 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525083953/http://www.ine.es/jaxi/Datos.htm?path=%2Ft20%2Fe245%2Fp04%2Fprovi%2Fl0%2F&file=00000010.px|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXvYAQAAQBAJ&q=bulgarians+in+spain+350000&pg=PA56 |title=Migration from and towards Bulgaria 1989–2011 |page=56 |date=2013-11-01 |access-date=2016-11-22 |isbn=9783865965202 |last1=Dimitrova |first1=Tanya |last2=Kahl |first2=Thede |publisher=Frank & Timme GmbH |author2-link=Thede Kahl |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200423/https://books.google.com/books?id=FXvYAQAAQBAJ&q=bulgarians+in+spain+350000&pg=PA56#v=snippet&q=bulgarians%20in%20spain%20350000&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region6          = {{flagcountry|United States}}
| pop6             = 300,000 (2016)
| ref6             = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_16_1YR_B04006&prodType=table |title=2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates |website=Factfinder.census.gov |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214060948/https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_16_1YR_B04006&prodType=table |archive-date=14 February 2020 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&q=bulgarian+descent+united+states&pg=PA404 |title=Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia |page=404 |date=2013-08-15 |access-date=2016-11-22 |isbn=9781452276267 |last1=Cortés |first1=Carlos E |publisher=SAGE Publications |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200421/https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&q=bulgarian+descent+united+states&pg=PA404#v=snippet&q=bulgarian%20descent%20united%20states&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region7          = {{flagcountry|United Kingdom}}
| pop7             = 86,000{{Cref|n}} (July 2020 to June 2021)
| ref7             = <ref>{{cite web|title=Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality – Office for National Statistics|url=https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/datasets/populationoftheunitedkingdombycountryofbirthandnationality|website=Ons.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=26 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201226192810/https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/datasets/populationoftheunitedkingdombycountryofbirthandnationality|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region8          = {{flagcountry|Moldova}} (incl. [[Transnistria]])
| pop8             = 79,520{{Cref|e}} (2004)
| ref8             = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=en&idc=295&id=2234 |title=National Bureau of Statistics // Population Census 2004 |website=Statistica.md |date=2009-09-30 |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=14 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101114023835/http://www.statistica.md/pageview.php?l=en&id=2234&idc=295 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region9          = {{flagcountry|Brazil}}
| pop9             = 74,000{{Cref|h}} (2016)
| ref9             = <ref>De acordo com dados do Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), cerca de 62.000 brasileiros declararam possuir ascendência búlgara no ano de 2006, o que faz com que o país abrigue a nona maior colônia búlgara do mundo.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.btv.bg/news/svetut/story/340509213-Braziliya_prezidentski_izbori_i_Dilma_Rusef.html|title=bTV – estimate for Bulgarians in Brazil|language=bg|publisher=btv.bg|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101011093705/http://www.btv.bg/news/svetut/story/340509213-Braziliya_prezidentski_izbori_i_Dilma_Rusef.html|archive-date=11 October 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| region10         = {{flagcountry|Greece}}
| pop10            = 72,893{{Cref|n}}–300,000 (2015)
| ref10            = <ref name="worldmigration"/><ref name="Брой на българите в чужбина по данни от МВнР по ЗДОИ">{{cite web|title=3 млн. българи са напуснали страната за последните 23 години|url=http://m.btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/3-mln-balgari-sa-napusnali-stranata-za-poslednite-23-godini.html|website=bTV, quote of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=12 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212193624/http://m.btvnovinite.bg/article/bulgaria/3-mln-balgari-sa-napusnali-stranata-za-poslednite-23-godini.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Cref|b}}
| region12         = {{flagcountry|Italy}}
| pop12            = 58,620{{Cref|n}}–120,000 (2016)
| ref12            = <ref name="Италианските българи">{{cite news |title=Италианските българи |url=http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=2260541 |language=bg |newspaper=24 Chasa |access-date=13 October 2015 |archive-date=6 February 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140206140115/http://www.24chasa.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=2260541 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://demo.istat.it/str2016/index.html|title=Statistiche demografiche ISTAT|website=demo.istat.it|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=7 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707030714/http://demo.istat.it/str2016/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region13         = {{flagcountry|Netherlands}}
| pop13            = 50,305{{Cref|m}} (2022)
| ref13            = <ref>{{cite web|title=Bevolking; geslacht, leeftijd, generatie en migratieachtergrond, 1 januari|url=https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table?ts=1584306247468|publisher=Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)|language=nl|date=22 July 2021|access-date=16 January 2022|archive-date=3 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170803035505/https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table?ts=1584306247468|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region14         = {{flagcountry|Canada}}
| pop14            = 30,485{{Cref|h}}–70,000 (2011)
| ref14            = <ref name="Брой на българите в чужбина по данни от МВнР по ЗДОИ"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0|title=2011 National Household Survey: Data tables|work=[[Statistics Canada]]|access-date=11 February 2014|date=2013-05-08|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224190955/https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?TABID=2&LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=1118296&GK=0&GRP=0&PID=105396&PRID=0&PTYPE=105277&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2013&THEME=95&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=&D1=0&D2=0&D3=0&D4=0&D5=0&D6=0%20|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region15         = {{flagcountry|Belgium}}
| pop15            = 46,876{{Cref|f}} (2020)
| ref15            = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/social-issues-migration-health/international-migration-outlook-2016_migr_outlook-2016-en#.Wi-aV1Vl_X4|title=International Migration Outlook 2016 – OECD READ edition|website=OECD iLibrary|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=2 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302070255/http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/social-issues-migration-health/international-migration-outlook-2016_migr_outlook-2016-en#.Wi-aV1Vl_X4|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region16         = {{flagcountry|France}}
| pop16            = 30,000–80,000<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mfa.bg/bg/72/pages/view/4938|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100723212620/http://www.mfa.bg/bg/72/pages/view/4938 |archive-date=23 July 2010 |title=Министерство на външните работи }}</ref>
| ref16            = <ref name="worldmigration">{{cite web|title=World Migration|url=https://www.iom.int/world-migration|website=International Organization for Migration|language=en|date=15 January 2015|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=1 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501120652/https://www.iom.int/world-migration|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXvYAQAAQBAJ&q=bulgarians+in+france+number&pg=PA39|title=Migration from and towards Bulgaria 1989–2011|page=39|isbn=9783865965202|last1=Dimitrova|first1=Tanya|last2=Kahl|first2=Thede|date=2013-11-01|publisher=Frank & Timme GmbH|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200421/https://books.google.com/books?id=FXvYAQAAQBAJ&q=bulgarians+in+france+number&pg=PA39#v=snippet&q=bulgarians%20in%20france%20number&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region17         = {{flagcountry|Austria}}
| pop17            = 25,686{{Cref|n}} (2017)
| ref17            = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/menschen_und_gesellschaft/bevoelkerung/bevoelkerungsstruktur/bevoelkerung_nach_staatsangehoerigkeit_geburtsland/index.html|title=Bevölkerung nach Staatsangehörigkeit und Geburtsland|author=STATISTIK AUSTRIA|website=Statistik.at|access-date=31 May 2015|archive-date=4 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904084134/http://www.statistik.at/web_de/statistiken/menschen_und_gesellschaft/bevoelkerung/bevoelkerungsstruktur/bevoelkerung_nach_staatsangehoerigkeit_geburtsland/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region18         = {{flagcountry|Russia}} (2010 area)
| pop18            = 24,038{{Cref|e}}–330,000 (2010)
| ref18            = <ref name=Cole/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab5.xls|format=XLS|title=Russia 2010 census|language=ru|website=Gks.ru|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=30 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200430081656/https://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab5.xls|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region19         = {{flagcountry|Cyprus}} (excl. [[TRNC]])
| pop19            = 19,197{{Cref|n}} (2011)
| ref19            = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/732265957BAC953AC225798300406903?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=|title=Cypriot 2011 census|website=Cystat.gov.cy|access-date=7 February 2012|archive-date=15 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130115100623/http://www.cystat.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/732265957BAC953AC225798300406903?OpenDocument&sub=2&sel=1&e=|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region20         = {{flagcountry|Serbia}}
| pop20            = 12,918{{Cref|e}} (2022)
| ref20            = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stat.gov.rs/vesti/20230428-konacnirezpopisa/|title=Serbian 2022 census|publisher=Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia|access-date=2023-06-06|archive-date=8 June 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608013816/https://www.stat.gov.rs/vesti/20230428-konacnirezpopisa/|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region21         = {{flagcountry|Czech Republic}}
| pop21            = 12,250{{Cref|n}} (2016)
| ref21            = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27914491/1612_c01t14.pdf/4bbedd77-c239-48cd-bf5a-7a43f6dbf71b?version=1.0 |title=Foreigners by category of residence, sex, and citizenship as of 31 December 2016 |publisher=[[Czech Statistical Office]] |access-date=2017-10-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019165732/https://www.czso.cz/documents/11292/27914491/1612_c01t14.pdf/4bbedd77-c239-48cd-bf5a-7a43f6dbf71b?version=1.0 |archive-date=19 October 2017 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| region22         = {{flagcountry|Denmark}}
| pop22            = 9,955 (2018)
| ref22            = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.statbank.dk/FOLK2|title=Population by country of origin|website=statbank.dk|access-date=6 June 2018|archive-date=5 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705022158/https://www.statbank.dk/FOLK2|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region23         = {{flagcountry|Sweden}}
| pop23            = 6,257{{Cref|d}}–9,105{{Cref|f}} (2016)
| ref23            = <ref>{{cite web|title=Utrikes födda efter födelseland, kön och år|url=http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/en/ssd/?rxid=4c44940c-9fa6-4527-95e2-3918c60a0668|website=Scb.se|publisher=Statistiska Centralbyrån|access-date=25 May 2017|archive-date=13 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200813151407/http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/en/ssd/?rxid=4c44940c-9fa6-4527-95e2-3918c60a0668|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region24         = {{flagcountry|Norway}}
| pop24            = 6,752{{Cref|n}}–8,180{{Cref|m}} (2017)
| ref24            = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/innvbef|title=Many new Syrian immigrants|website=Ssb.no|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=23 November 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201123190440/https://www.ssb.no/en/befolkning/statistikker/innvbef|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region25         = {{flagcountry|Switzerland}}
| pop25            = 8,588{{Cref|n}} (2017)
| ref25            = <ref>{{cite web|last1=statistique|first1=Office fédéral de la|title=Population|url=https://www.pxweb.bfs.admin.ch/pxweb/fr/px-x-0103010000_116/px-x-0103010000_116/px-x-0103010000_116.px|website=Bfs.admin.ch|language=fr|access-date=13 December 2017|archive-date=1 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201001165213/https://www.pxweb.bfs.admin.ch/pxweb/fr/px-x-0103010000_116/px-x-0103010000_116/px-x-0103010000_116.px|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region26         = {{flagcountry|Portugal}}
| pop26            = 7,019{{Cref|n}}–12,000 (2016)
| ref26            = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Rifa2016.pdf|title=National Institute of Statistics of Portugal – Foreigners in 2013|language=pt|website=Sefstat.sef.pt|access-date=2011-04-16|archive-date=28 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170828172956/http://sefstat.sef.pt/Docs/Rifa2016.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=SABA/>
| region27         = {{flagcountry|Romania}}
| pop27            = 5,975{{Cref|e}} (2021)
| ref27            = <ref>{{cite web|format=XLS|url=http://www.recensamantromania.ro/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/sR_TAB_11.xls|title=Romanian 2011 census|language=ro|website=Edrc.ro|access-date=21 October 2015|archive-date=30 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230125029/https://insse.ro/cms/sites/default/files/com_presa/com_pdf/cp-date-provizorii-rpl_2.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region28         = {{flagcountry|Australia}}
| pop28            = 5,436{{Cref|h}} (2011)
| ref28            = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/research/people-australia-2013-statistics.pdf|title=Australian 2011 census|website=Abs.gov.au|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417222156/https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/research/people-australia-2013-statistics.pdf|archive-date=17 April 2017|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref>
| region29         = {{flagcountry|Kazakhstan}}
| pop29            = 5,788{{Cref|e}} (2023)
| ref29            = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/kazakhstan-ethnic2023.htm |title=Ethnic composition of Kazakhstan 2023 (based on 2021 census) |last=Bespyatov |first=Tim |website=Pop-stat |df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=March 2024}}
| region30         = {{flagcountry|South Africa}}
| pop30            = 4,224{{Cref|n}}–20,000 (2015)
| ref30            = <ref name="worldmigration"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mfa.bg/bg/113/pages/view/5163|title=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria – Bulgarians in South Africa|language=bg|website=Mfa.bg|access-date=2011-02-08|archive-date=17 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120117234240/http://www.mfa.bg/bg/113/pages/view/5163|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region31         = {{flagcountry|Hungary}}
| pop31            = 4,022 (2016)
| ref31            = <ref name="KSH">{{cite book|last=Vukovich|first=Gabriella|url=http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/mikrocenzus2016/mikrocenzus_2016_12.pdf|title=Mikrocenzus 2016 – 12. Nemzetiségi adatok|trans-title=2016 microcensus – 12. Ethnic data|language=hu|publisher=Hungarian Central Statistical Office|location=Budapest|year=2018|access-date=9 January 2019|isbn=978-963-235-542-9|archive-date=9 October 2022|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.ksh.hu/docs/hun/xftp/idoszaki/mikrocenzus2016/mikrocenzus_2016_12.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region32         = {{flagcountry|North Macedonia}}
| pop32            = 3,504 (2021)
| ref32            = 
| region33         = {{flagcountry|Finland}}
| pop33            = 2,840 (2018)
| ref33            = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11rl.px/table/tableViewLayout1/?rxid=726cd24d-d0f1-416a-8eec-7ce9b82fd5a4|title=Väestö 31.12. Muuttujina Maakunta, Kieli, Ikä, Sukupuoli, Vuosi ja Tiedot|access-date=20 July 2019|archive-date=7 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407133215/https://pxnet2.stat.fi/PXWeb/pxweb/fi/StatFin/StatFin__vrm__vaerak/statfin_vaerak_pxt_11rl.px/?rxid=726cd24d-d0f1-416a-8eec-7ce9b82fd5a4|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| region34         = {{flagcountry|Slovakia}}
| pop34            = 1,552 (2021)
| ref34            = <ref>{{Cite web |title=SODB2021 - Obyvatelia - Základné výsledky |url=https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/struktura-obyvatelstva-podla-narodnosti/SR/SK0/SR |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=www.scitanie.sk |archive-date=31 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220531025903/https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/struktura-obyvatelstva-podla-narodnosti/SR/SK0/SR |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=SODB2021 - Obyvatelia - Základné výsledky |url=https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/struktura-obyvatelstva-podla-dalsej-narodnosti/SR/SK0/SR |access-date=2022-08-25 |website=www.scitanie.sk |archive-date=15 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220715111536/https://www.scitanie.sk/obyvatelia/zakladne-vysledky/struktura-obyvatelstva-podla-dalsej-narodnosti/SR/SK0/SR |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region35         = {{flagcountry|Slovenia}}
| pop35            = 1,500 (2011)
| ref35            = 
| region36         = {{flagcountry|Albania}}
| pop36            = 7,057 (2023 census)
| ref36            = <ref name="Census 2023">{{cite web |publisher=[[Institute of Statistics (Albania)|Instituti i Statistikës]] (INSTAT) |title=Population and Housing Census 2023|url=https://shqiptarja.com/uploads/ckeditor/667eb96647c4bcens-2023.pdf}}</ref>
| langs            = [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]
| rels             = Predominantly [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox Christianity]]<br />([[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]]), minority [[Islam]] ([[Bulgarian Muslims]]), [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]], [[Protestantism]], [[Irreligion]]
| related          = Other [[South Slavs]], especially [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]],<ref name="DictEastEur"/> [[Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia]] and [[Torlak]] speakers in [[Serbia]].
| footnotes        = {{Cnote|a|The 2011 census figure was 5,664,624.<ref name=census>{{cite web|url=http://www.nsi.bg/EPDOCS/Census2011final.pdf|title=Bulgarian 2011 census|page=25|language=bg|publisher=nsi.bg|access-date=2012-10-15|archive-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727085038/http://www.nsi.bg/EPDOCS/Census2011final.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The question on ethnicity was voluntary and 10% of the population did not declare any ethnicity,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://epc2014.princeton.edu/abstracts/140592 |title=EPC 2014 |publisher=Epc2014.princeton.edu |access-date=2015-08-30 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230164002/https://epc2014.princeton.edu/abstracts/140592 |url-status=dead }}</ref> thus the figure is considered an underestimation. Ethnic Bulgarians are estimated at around 6 million, 85% of the population.<ref>{{cite web |author=Свободно време |url=http://www.dnes.bg/stranata/2011/07/27/eksperti-po-demografiia-osporiha-prebroiavaneto.125031 |title=Експерти по демография оспориха преброяването &#124; Dnes.bg Новини |publisher=Dnes.bg |date=2011-07-27 |access-date=2015-08-30 |archive-date=10 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110081243/https://www.dnes.bg/stranata/2011/07/27/eksperti-po-demografiia-osporiha-prebroiavaneto.125031 |url-status=live }}</ref>}}{{Cnote|b|Estimates<ref>{{cite book|title=Ethnologue: Languages of the World|editor1=Raymond G. Gordon, Jr.|editor2=Barbara F. Grimes|publisher=SIL International|location=Dallas, Texas|year=2005|issue=15|isbn=978-1-55671-159-6|chapter-url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/bul|chapter=Languages of Turkey (Europe)|access-date=14 June 2016|archive-date=29 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171129055943/https://www.ethnologue.com/language/bul|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.milliyet.com.tr/default.aspx?aType=SonDakika&Kategori=yasam&ArticleID=873452&Date=07.06.2008&ver=16|title=Türkiye'deki Kürtlerin sayısı!|date=6 June 2008|access-date=17 August 2010|language=tr|archive-date=24 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324221816/http://www.milliyet.com.tr/default.aspx?articleid=873452&atype=sondakika&date=07.06.2008&kategori=yasam&ver=16|url-status=live}}</ref> of the number of [[Pomaks]] whom most scholars categorize as Bulgarians<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thomas|first1=Raju G. C.|title=Yugoslavia Unraveled: Sovereignty, Self-Determination, Intervention|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=9780739107577|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9L6ZayN27PAC&pg=PA105|quote=Most scholars categorize Pomaks as "Slav Bulgarians...|year=2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Poulton|first1=Hugh|last2=Committee|first2=Minnesota Lawyers International Human Rights|title=Minorities in the Balkans|publisher=Minority Rights Group|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ly2AAAAIAAJ&q=hugh+poulton+pomaks+minorities+in+bulgaria|page=7|quote=...'Pomaks', are a religious minority. They are Slav Bulgarians who speak Bulgarian...|year=1989|isbn=9780946690718|access-date=3 September 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200421/https://books.google.com/books?id=3ly2AAAAIAAJ&q=hugh+poulton+pomaks+minorities+in+bulgaria|url-status=live}}</ref>}}{{Cnote|c|According to the 2002 census there were 1,417 Bulgarians in North Macedonia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Republic of North Macedonia - State Statistical Office|url=http://www.stat.gov.mk/english/glavna_eng.asp?br=18|date=3 July 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100703105852/http://www.stat.gov.mk/english/glavna_eng.asp?br=18|archive-date=3 July 2010|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Between 2003 and 2017, according to the data provided by Bulgarian authorities some 87,483<ref>{{cite web|title=Новите българи|url=http://www.capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/2017/04/21/2957409_novite_bulgari/|website=Capital.bg|date=21 April 2017|language=bg|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023223401/https://www.capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/2017/04/21/2957409_novite_bulgari/|url-status=live}}</ref>-200,000<ref>{{cite web|title=Јончев: Над 200.000 Македонци чекаат бугарски пасоши|url=https://www.mkd.mk/makedonija/jonchev-nad-200000-makedonci-chekaat-bugarski-pasoshi?page=16&fb_comment_id=866528360091919_866556930089062#f1938af6335b078|website=МКД.мк|language=mk|access-date=12 December 2017|archive-date=30 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330005909/https://www.mkd.mk/makedonija/jonchev-nad-200000-makedonci-chekaat-bugarski-pasoshi?page=16&fb_comment_id=866528360091919_866556930089062#f1938af6335b078|url-status=live}}</ref> permanent residents of North Macedonia declared Bulgarian origin in their applications for Bulgarian citizenship, of which 67,355 requests were granted. A minor part of them are among the total of 2,934 North Macedonia-born residents, who are residing in Bulgaria by 2016.<ref>Perspectives migrations internationales 2016 et Eurostat.</ref>}}{{Cnote|d|by citizenship excluding dual citizens}}{{Cnote|e|by single ethnic group per person}}{{Cnote|f|by foreign-born}}{{Cnote|h|by heritage}}{{Cnote|n|by legal nationality}}{{Cnote|m|by nationality, naturalisation and descendant background}}
}}

'''Bulgarians''' ({{langx|bg|българи|bŭlgari}}, {{IPA|bg|ˈbɤɫɡɐri|IPA}}) are a [[nation]] and [[South Slavs|South Slavic]]<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC&q=bulgarians+south+slavic+people&pg=PA135 |title=One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups, James Minahan, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000, ISBN 0-313-30984-1, pp. 134 – 135 |isbn=9780313309847 |access-date=March 29, 2020 |last1=Minahan |first1=James |year=2000 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200424/https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC&q=bulgarians+south+slavic+people&pg=PA135 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp|title=The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbS9QmwDC58C&q=bulgarians+south+slavic&pg=PA308|year=1991|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-08149-3|page=308|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200422/https://books.google.com/books?id=YbS9QmwDC58C&q=bulgarians+south+slavic&pg=PA308|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kopeček|first=Michal|editor=Balázs Trencsényi|title=Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): texts and commentaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpPWvubBL0MC&q=bulgarians+south+slavs&pg=PA240|year=2007|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-963-7326-60-8|page=240|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200922/https://books.google.com/books?id=TpPWvubBL0MC&q=bulgarians+south+slavs&pg=PA240|url-status=live}}</ref> [[ethnic group]] native to [[Bulgaria]] and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian [[ancestry]], [[culture]], [[history]] and [[language]]. They form the majority of the population in [[Bulgarians in Bulgaria|Bulgaria]], while in [[Bulgarians in North Macedonia|North Macedonia]], [[Bulgarians in Ukraine|Ukraine]], [[Bessarabian Bulgarians|Moldova]], [[Bulgarians in Serbia|Serbia]], [[Bulgarians in Albania|Albania]], [[Bulgarians in Romania|Romania]], [[Bulgarians in Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Bulgarians in Greece|Greece]] they exist as historical communities.

==Etymology==
{{see also|Bulgars}}
Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the [[Bulgars]]. Their name is not completely understood and difficult to trace back earlier than the 4th century AD,<ref name="Gurov">{{cite web |first=Dilian |last=Gurov |date=March 2007 |title=The Origins of the Bulgars |url=https://www.nada.kth.se/~dilian/bulgars.pdf |pages=3 |access-date=23 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014084810/https://www.nada.kth.se/~dilian/bulgars.pdf |archive-date=14 October 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> but it is possibly derived from the [[Proto-Turkic]] word ''*bulģha'' ("to mix", "shake", "stir") and its derivative ''*bulgak'' ("revolt", "disorder").<ref>Bowersock, Glen W. & al. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c788wWR_bLwC&pg=PA354 Late Antiquity: a Guide to the Postclassical World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221948/https://books.google.com/books?id=c788wWR_bLwC&pg=PA354 |date=15 January 2023 }}'', p. 354. Harvard University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-674-51173-5}}.</ref> Alternative etymologies include derivation from a compound of Proto-Turkic ([[Oghuric languages|Oghuric]]) ''*bel'' ("five") and ''*gur'' ("arrow" in the sense of "[[Turkic tribal confederations|tribe]]"), a proposed division within the [[Utigurs]] or [[Onogurs]] ("ten tribes").<ref>Karataty, Osman. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=h_Qu1ywX0-wC In Search of the Lost Tribe: the Origins and Making of the Croatian Nation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200923/https://books.google.com/books?id=h_Qu1ywX0-wC |date=28 September 2023 }}'', p. 28.</ref>

==Citizenship==
According to art. 25(1) of [[Constitution of Bulgaria]], a Bulgarian citizen shall be anyone born to at least one parent holding a [[Bulgarian citizenship]], or born on the territory of the [[Republic of Bulgaria]], should they not be entitled to any other citizenship by virtue of origin. Bulgarian citizenship shall further be acquirable through naturalization.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.bg/bg/const |title=Народно събрание на Република България – Конституция |website=Parliament.bg |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=8 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210208034047/https://www.parliament.bg/bg/const/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> About 85% of Bulgaria's population identified themselves as ethnic Bulgarians in 2021 Bulgarian census, the rest being mostly [[Bulgarian Turks|Turks]] (8%) and [[Romani people|Roma]] (4%).<ref name=2021Census-ethnocultural-characteristics>{{cite web|url=https://nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/pressreleases/Census2021_ethnos.pdf|title=Преброяване 2021: Етнокултурна характеристика на населението|trans-title=2021 Census: Ethnocultural characteristics of the population|publisher=[[National Statistical Institute (Bulgaria)|National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124195716/https://nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/pressreleases/Census2021_ethnos.pdf|archive-date=24 November 2022|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Ethnogenesis==
Modern-day Bulgarians descend from peoples of vastly different origins and numbers, and are thus the result of a "[[melting pot]]" effect.
The main ethnic elements which blended to produce the modern Bulgarian ethnicity are:
* [[Thracians]] – a native ancient [[Balkan]] [[Proto-Indo-Europeans|Indo-European people]] who left a cultural and genetic legacy.<ref name="The Bulgarians 1976">"Many Thracian survivals have been detected in the sphere of Bulgarian national costume and folk tradition." ''The Bulgarians: from pagan times to the Ottoman conquest'', David Marshall Lang, Westview Press, 1976, {{ISBN| 0-89158-530-3}}, p. 27.</ref><ref name=pmid26332464>{{cite journal | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0135820 | pmid=26332464 | pmc=4558026 | title=Genetic Heritage of the Balto-Slavic Speaking Populations: A Synthesis of Autosomal, Mitochondrial and Y-Chromosomal Data | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=10 | issue=9 | pages=e0135820 | year=2015 | last1=Kushniarevich | first1=Alena | last2=Utevska | first2=Olga | last3=Chuhryaeva | first3=Marina | last4=Agdzhoyan | first4=Anastasia | last5=Dibirova | first5=Khadizhat | last6=Uktveryte | first6=Ingrida | last7=Möls | first7=Märt | last8=Mulahasanovic | first8=Lejla | last9=Pshenichnov | first9=Andrey | last10=Frolova | first10=Svetlana | last11=Shanko | first11=Andrey | last12=Metspalu | first12=Ene | last13=Reidla | first13=Maere | last14=Tambets | first14=Kristiina | last15=Tamm | first15=Erika | last16=Koshel | first16=Sergey | last17=Zaporozhchenko | first17=Valery | last18=Atramentova | first18=Lubov | last19=Kučinskas | first19=Vaidutis | last20=Davydenko | first20=Oleg | last21=Goncharova | first21=Olga | last22=Evseeva | first22=Irina | last23=Churnosov | first23=Michail | last24=Pocheshchova | first24=Elvira | last25=Yunusbayev | first25=Bayazit | last26=Khusnutdinova | first26=Elza | last27=Marjanović | first27=Damir | last28=Rudan | first28=Pavao | last29=Rootsi | first29=Siiri | last30=Yankovsky | first30=Nick | display-authors=29 | bibcode=2015PLoSO..1035820K | doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>"A detailed analysis is made of the assimilation process which took place between Slavs and Thracians. It ended in the triumph of the Slav element and in the ultimate disappearance of the Thracian ethnos&nbsp;... Attention is drawn to the fact that even though assimilated, the Thracian ethnicon left behind traces of its existence (in toponymy, the lexical wealth of the Bulgarian language, religious beliefs, material culture, etc.) which should be extensively studied in all their aspects in the future&nbsp;..." Dimitŭr Angelov (1971), {{lang|bg|Образуване на българската народност}} [''Formation of the Bulgarian nation''], Sofia: Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове", pp. 409–410. ([http://macedonia.kroraina.com/da/da_summary.htm Summary in English] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528061319/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_summary.htm |date =28 May 2013 }}).</ref> Approximately 55% of Bulgarian autosomal genetic legacy is of Paleo-Balkan and Mediterranean origin and can be attributed to Thracian and other indigenous [[Prehistoric Balkans|Balkan]] populations predating Slavs and [[Bulgars]];<ref name=Hellenthal>{{cite journal |last1 =Hellenthal |first1 =Garrett |last2 =Busby |first2 =George B. J. |last3 =Band |first3 =Gavin |last4 =Wilson |first4 =James F. |last5 =Capelli |first5 =Cristian |last6 =Falush |first6 =Daniel |last7 =Myers |first7 =Simon |title =A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History |journal =[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date =14 February 2014 |volume =343 |issue =6172 |pages =747–751 |doi =10.1126/science.1243518 |pmid =24531965 |pmc =4209567 |issn= 0036-8075|bibcode =2014Sci...343..747H }}</ref><ref name=reykjavkur1>Axel Kristinsson (2010), ''Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe Since the Bronze Age'', Reykjavíkur Akademían, {{ISBN|9979992212}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9s2uzr47M-cC&dq=slavs+different+genetically&pg=PA194 p. 194]. {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927121500/https://books.google.com/books?id=9s2uzr47M-cC&dq=slavs+different+genetically&pg=PA194#v=onepage&q=slavs%20different%20genetically&f=false |date =27 September 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |work =A genetic atlas of human admixture history |title =Companion website for "A genetic atlas of human admixture history", Hellenthal et al, Science (2014) |url =http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/ |access-date =28 April 2023 |archive-date =2 September 2019 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20190902195508/http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/ |url-status =live }}</ref>
* [[Early Slavs]] – an Indo-European group of tribes that migrated from [[Eastern Europe]] into the Balkans in the 6th–7th century CE and imposed their language and culture on the local Thracian, Roman and Greek communities. Approximately 40% of Bulgarian autosomal make-up comes from a northeastern European population that admixed with the native population in the period between 400 and 1000 CE;<ref name=Hellenthal/><ref name=garrett>{{Cite journal |title =A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History |date =14 February 2014 |pmc =4209567 |last1 =Hellenthal |first1 =G. |last2 =Busby |first2 =G. B. |last3 =Band |first3 =G. |last4 =Wilson |first4 =J. F. |last5 =Capelli |first5 =C. |last6 =Falush |first6 =D. |last7 =Myers |first7 =S. |journal =Science |volume =343 |issue=6172 |pages=747–751 |doi=10.1126/science.1243518 |pmid=24531965 |bibcode =2014Sci...343..747H }}</ref>
* [[Bulgars]] – a semi-nomadic tribal federation, possibly from [[Central Asia]], which settled in the northeast of the Balkans in the 7th century CE, federated with the local Slavic and Slavicized population, organised early-medieval Bulgarian statehood and bequeathed their [[ethnonym]] to the modern Bulgarian ethnicity, while eventually assimilating into the Slavic population.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url =https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgar|title =Bulgar – people|encyclopedia =Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date =20 December 2017|archive-date =26 June 2015|archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150626201549/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bulgar|url-status =live}}</ref><ref name=fine/> Approximately 2.3% of Bulgarian genes originate in Central Asia, corresponding to Asian tribes such as the Bulgars, [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]], [[Cumans]] and other Turkic tribes, which settled on the Balkans during the Middle ages, with admixture peaking in the 9th century CE;<ref>Garrett Hellenthal et al. (14 February 2014). "A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History". ''Science'', Vol. 343 no. 6172, p. 751. "CIs. for the admixture time(s) overlap but predate the Mongol empire, with estimates from 440 to 1080 CE". ([https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209567/figure/F3/ Fig.3.] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927121506/https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4209567/figure/F3/ |date=27 September 2023 }})</ref>

The indigenous Thracians left a cultural and genetic legacy.<ref>"The so-called Bulgar inscriptions are, with few exceptions, written in Greek rather than in Turkic runes; they mention officials with late antique titles, and use late Antique terminology and indictional dating. Contemporary Byzantine inscriptions are not obviously similar, implying that this (Bulgar) epigraphic habit was not imported from Constantinople but was a local Bulgar development, or rather, it was an indigenous 'Roman' inheritance." M. Whittow, ''Nicopolis ad Istrium: Backward and Balkan''.</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}}<ref name="The Bulgarians 1976"/> Other pre-Slavic Indo-European peoples, including [[Dacians]] (if distinct from Thracians), [[Celts]], [[Goths]], [[Roman people|Romans]], [[ancient Greeks]], [[Sarmatians]], [[Paeonians]] and [[Illyrians]] also settled in what later became the Bulgarian lands. The [[Thracian language]] was still spoken in the 6th century, probably becoming extinct afterwards,<ref>''Bulgarian historical review'', Publishing House of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, pp. 53</ref>{{fcn|reason=year? authors?|date=January 2025}}<ref>''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'', 7th edition, p. 57</ref><ref>Elemér Illyés, ''Ethnic Continuity in the Carpatho-Danubian Area''</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}} In a later period the Bulgarians replaced long-established Greek/Latin toponyms with Thracian ones, which might suggest that Thracian had not been completely obliterated then.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1 =Mallory|editor-first1 =J. P.|editor-last2 =Adams|editor-first2 =D. Q.|title =Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture|isbn =9781884964985|page =576|year =1997|publisher =Taylor & Francis }}</ref> Some pre-Slavic linguistic and cultural traces might have been preserved among modern Bulgarians (and Macedonians).<ref>Mercia MacDermott (1998), ''Bulgarian Folk Customs'', Jessica Kingsley, {{ISBN| 1853024856}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC&dq=thracians+customs+bulgaria&pg=PA16 pp. 18–19]. {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522051742/https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC&dq=thracians+customs+bulgaria&pg=PA16 |date=22 May 2023 }}</ref><ref>Radoslav Katicic (1976), ''Ancient Languages of the Balkans'', Walter de Gruyter, {{ISBN |3111568873}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=O330ybFCBMUC&dq=thracian+language+bulgarian+dacian+albanian&pg=PA71 pp. 9–10; 71]. {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522051737/https://books.google.com/books?id=O330ybFCBMUC&dq=thracian+language+bulgarian+dacian+albanian&pg=PA71 | date=22 May 2023 }}</ref> [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]] and [[Moesia]] Inferior appear to have been [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanized]],<ref>{{cite web |url =http://www.pontos.dk/publications/books/bss-5-files/BSS5_02_Petculescu.pdf |title =The Roman Army as a Factor of Romanisation in the North-Eastern Part of Moesia Inferior |publisher =Pontos |first =Liviu |last=Petculescu |access-date =2015-08-30 |archive-date =26 March 2017 |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170326094130/http://www.pontos.dk/publications/books/bss-5-files/BSS5_02_Petculescu.pdf |url-status =live }}</ref> although the region became a focus of barbarian re-settlements (various Goths and [[Huns]]) during the 4th and early 5th centuries AD,<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TcuRJMDaZowC&q=cataclysm+lower+Danube&pg=PA223|title=Landscapes of Change |chapter=Chapter 8|isbn=9781840146172|last1=Christie|first1=Neil|year=2004|publisher=Ashgate|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200924/https://books.google.com/books?id=TcuRJMDaZowC&q=cataclysm+lower+Danube&pg=PA223|url-status=live}}</ref> before a further "Romanization" episode during the early 6th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dfaZAAAAQBAJ&q=late+antique+archaeology+warfare&pg=PR18|title=War and Warfare in Late Antiquity |page=781|isbn=9789004252585|date=2013-08-23|publisher=Brill|access-date=16 October 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200928/https://books.google.com/books?id=dfaZAAAAQBAJ&q=late+antique+archaeology+warfare&pg=PR18#v=snippet&q=late%20antique%20archaeology%20warfare&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> According to archeological evidence from the late periods of Roman rule, the Romans did not decrease the number of Thracians significantly in major cities. By the 4th century the major city of [[Sofia|Serdica]] had predominantly Thracian populace based on epigraphic evidence, which shows prevailing Latino-Thracian given names, but thereafter the names were completely replaced by Christian ones.<ref>Sofia – 127 years capital. Sofia Municipality</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}}

The early Slavs emerged from their original homeland in the early 6th century, and spread to most of the eastern [[Central Europe]], [[Eastern Europe]] and the [[Balkans]], thus forming three main branches: the [[West Slavs]] in eastern Central Europe, the [[East Slavs]] in Eastern Europe, and the [[South Slavs]] in [[Southeast Europe|Southeastern Europe]] (Balkans). The latter gradually inflicted total linguistic replacement of Thracian, if the Thracians had not already been Romanized or Hellenized.<ref>Douglas Q. Adams, ''Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture'', p. 576</ref> Most scholars accept that they began large-scale settling of the Balkans in the 580s based on the statement of the 6th century historian [[Menander Protector|Menander]] speaking of 100,000 Slavs in [[Thrace]] and consecutive attacks of Greece in 582.<ref>[[John Van Antwerp Fine Jr.|Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr.]]<!--Open Library says Jr not Sr--> (1983), ''The Early Medieval Balkans'', University of Michigan Press, {{ISBN|0-472-08149-7}}, p. 31</ref> They continued coming to the Balkans in many waves, but also leaving, most notably [[Justinian II]] (685–695) settled as many as 30,000 Slavs from Thrace in [[Asia Minor]]. The [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantines]] grouped the numerous Slavic tribes into two groups: the [[Sclaveni]] and [[Antes (people)|Antes]].<ref name="Hupchick, Dennis P. 2004" /> Some Bulgarian scholars suggest that the Antes became one of the ancestors of the modern Bulgarians.<ref name="Hupchick, Dennis P. 2004"/>

The Bulgars are first mentioned in the 4th century in the vicinity of the [[North Caucasus|North Caucasian]] [[steppe]]. Scholars often suggest that the ultimate origins of the Bulgar is Turkic and can be traced to the [[Central Asia]]n [[nomad]]ic [[confederations]],<ref>Petar Petrov (1981). {{lang|bg|Образуване на българската държава}} [''Formation of the Bulgarian State'']. Sofia: Издателство Наука и изкуство.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_2_2.htm |script-title=bg:Образуване на българската народност |first=Dimitar |last=Angelov |publisher=Издателство Наука и изкуство, "Векове" |location=Sofia |year=1971 |via=Kroraina |access-date=2011-11-13 |archive-date=28 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528064248/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_2_2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name= Runciman /><ref>{{cite web |first1=Vassil |last1=Karloukovski |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/vz1a/vz1a_a_1.html |script-title=bg:История на българската държава през средните векове |trans-title=History of the Bulgarian state in the Middle Ages |first2=Vasil N. |last2=Zlatarski |edition=2nd |year=1970 |orig-date=1st ed. 1918 |editor-first=Petar H. |editor-last=Petrov |publisher=Наука и изкуство |via=Kroraina |access-date=2011-11-13 |archive-date=26 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726204047/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/vz1a/vz1a_a_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>{{verify inline|reason=Citation originally written in Bulgarian cited two editions simultaneously, which is not valid. Verify that it's the 2nd edition cited for the nearby claims|date=January 2025}} specifically as part of loosely related Oghuric tribes which spanned from the Pontic steppe to central Asia.<ref>Rasho Rashev, {{lang|de|Die Protobulgaren im 5.–7. Jahrhundert}}, Sofia: Orbel, 2005. (in Bulgarian, German summary)</ref> However, any direct connection between the Bulgars and postulated Asian counterparts rest on little more than speculative and "contorted etymologies".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sinor |first1=Denis |year=2005 |title=Reflections on the History and Historiography of the Nomad Empires of Central Eurasia |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=3–14 |jstor=23658601 |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/openurl?genre=article&issn=0001-6446&volume=58&issue=1&spage=3&epage=14&aulast=Sinor |doi=10.1556/AOrient.58.2005.1.1}}{{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> Some Bulgarian historians question the identification of the Bulgars as a Turkic tribe and suggest an [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] origin.<ref>Dobrev, Petar (1995). {{lang|bg|"Езикът на Аспаруховите и Куберовите българи"}}. 1995. {{in lang|bg}}</ref><ref>Bakalov, Georgi. {{lang|bg|italic=yes|Малко известни факти от историята на древните българи}}. [http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-1.htm Part 1] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924083545/http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-1.htm |date=24 September 2015 }} & [http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-2.htm Part 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201163333/http://www.protobulgarians.com/Statii%20ot%20drugi%20avtori/Bakalov-2.htm |date=1 December 2007 }}. {{in lang|bg}}</ref> Other Bulgarian scholars actively oppose the "Iranian hypothesis".<ref>Yordanov, Stefan (2002). {{lang|bg|Славяни, тюрки и индо-иранци в ранното средновековие: езикови проблеми на българския етногенезис}} [Slavs, Turks and Indo-Iranians in the Early Middle Ages: Linguistic Problems of Bulgarian Ethnogenesis]. In: {{lang|bg|italic=yes|Българистични проучвания. 8. Актуални проблеми на българистиката и славистиката. Седма международна научна сесия}}. [''Bulgarian Studies. 8. Current Problems of Bulgarian and Slavic Studies. Seventh International Scientific Session'']. Veliko Tarnovo, 22–23 August 2001. pp. 275–295.</ref><ref>Ivan Kalchev Dobrev (2005). {{lang|bg|Надпис No 21 от българското златно съкровище "Наги Сент-Миклош"}} [Inscription No. 21 from the Bulgarian gold treasure 'Nagy Saint-Miklós']. {{lang|bg|italic=yes|Сборник с материали от Научна конференция на ВА "Г. С. Раковски"}} [''Collection of materials from the Scientific Conference of the Academy of Sciences "G. S. Rakovski"'']. Sofia.</ref> According to [[Raymond Detrez]], the Iranian theory is rooted in the periods of [[anti-Turkish sentiment]] in Bulgaria and is ideologically motivated.<ref name="Detrez">{{cite book |first=Raymond |last=Detrez |author-link=Raymond Detrez |title=Developing Cultural Identity in the Balkans: Convergence vs. Divergence |publisher=Peter Lang |year=2005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |page=29 |isbn=9789052012971 |access-date=11 February 2022 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200925/https://books.google.com/books?id=TRttHdXjP14C |url-status=live }}</ref> Since 1989, anti-Turkish rhetoric is now reflected in the theories that challenge the thesis of the Bulgars' Turkic origin. Alongside the Iranian or Aryan theory, there appeared arguments favoring an autochthonous origin.<ref>{{cite book|title=Quest for a Suitable Past: Myths and Memory in Central and Eastern Europe|first1=Cristian Emilian |last1=Ghita |first2=Claudia Florentina |last2=Dobre|year=2016|page=142}}</ref>

In the 670s, some Bulgar tribes, the Danube Bulgars led by [[Asparuh]] and the Bulgars, led by [[Kuber]], crossed the Danube river and settled in the Balkans with a single migration wave, the former of which [[Michael the Syrian]] described as numbering 10,000.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hupchick|first1=D.|title=The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism|publisher=Springer|isbn=9780312299132|language=en|page=35|date=2002-01-11}}</ref><ref name=fine/> The Bulgars are often not thought to have been numerous, becoming a ruling elite in the areas they controlled.<ref name=fine>{{cite book|last1=Fine|first1=John V. A.|title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0472081493|pages=68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C&pg=PR4|year=1991|access-date=3 September 2020|archive-date=15 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115221954/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C&pg=PR4|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Komatina|2010|p=55–82}} However, according to [[Steven Runciman]] a tribe that was able to defeat an Emperor-lead Byzantine army, must have been of considerable dimensions.<ref>Steven Runciman, ''A history of the First Bulgarian Empire'', page 28</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}} Asparuh's Bulgars made a tribal union with the [[Severians]] and the "[[Seven Slavic tribes|Seven clans]]", who were re-settled to protect the flanks of the Bulgar settlements in [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]], as the capital [[Pliska]] was built on the site of a former Slavic settlement.

During the Early Byzantine Era, the Roman provincials in Scythia Minor and Moesia Secunda were already engaged in economic and social exchange with the 'barbarians' north of the [[Danube]]. This might have facilitated their eventual Slavonization,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RovRlJkrncEC&q=slavicized+byzantine&pg=PA583 |title=Regna and gentes: the relationship between late antique and early medieval peoples and kingdoms in the transformation of the Roman world |first1=Hans-Werner |last1=Goetz |first2=Jörg |last2=Jarnut |first3=Walter |last3=Pohl |publisher=Brill |year=2003 |pages=582–583 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=978-9004125247 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200927/https://books.google.com/books?id=RovRlJkrncEC&q=slavicized+byzantine&pg=PA583#v=snippet&q=slavicized%20byzantine&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> although the majority of the population appears to have been withdrawn to the hinterland of [[Constantinople]] or Asia Minor prior to any permanent Slavic and Bulgar settlement south of the Danube.<ref>Florin Curta (2013). ''Horsemen in forts or peasants in villages? Remarks on the archaeology of warfare in the 6th to 7th century Balkansmore''.</ref>{{fcn|date=January 2025}} The major port towns in Pontic Bulgaria remained Byzantine Greek in their outlook. The large scale population transfers and territorial expansions during the 8th and 9th century, additionally increased the number of the Slavs and Byzantine Christians within the state, making the Bulgars quite obviously a minority.<ref>R. J. Crampton (2005), ''A Concise History of Bulgaria'', Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|0521616379}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylz4fe7757cC&dq=proto-bulgarians++minority+slavs&pg=PA13 p. 13.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230522051740/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ylz4fe7757cC&dq=proto-bulgarians++minority+slavs&pg=PA13 |date=22 May 2023 }}</ref> The establishment of a new state molded the various Slav, Bulgar and earlier or later populations into the "Bulgarian people" of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]]<ref name=fine/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owY4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA179 |title=An historical geography of Europe, 450 B.C. – A.D.1330 |first=Norman |last=John |publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1977 |page=179 |access-date=2011-11-13 |isbn=9780521291262 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928200926/https://books.google.com/books?id=owY4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA179 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_summary.htm |title=The Formation of the Bulgarian Nation |first=Dimitŭr Simeonov |last=Angelov |chapter=Summary |publisher=Sofia-Press |year=1978 |via=Kroraina.com |access-date=2011-11-13 |archive-date=28 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130528061319/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/da/da_summary.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> speaking a [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic language]].<ref>L. Ivanov (2007). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319143651_Essential_History_of_Bulgaria_in_Seven_Pages "Essential History of Bulgaria in Seven Pages"]. In ''Bulgaria: Bezmer and Adjacent Regions: Guide for American Military''. Sofia: Multiprint.</ref> In different periods to the [[ethnogenesis]] of the local population contributed also different Indo-European and Turkic people, who settled or lived on the Balkans.

=== Bulgarian ethnogenetic conception ===
The Bulgarians are usually regarded as part of the [[Slavs|Slavic]] ethnolinguistic group.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC&pg=PA134 |title=One Europe, many nations: a historical dictionary of European national groups |pages=134–135 |access-date=2011-11-13 |isbn=9780313309847 |last1=Minahan |first1=James |year=2000 |publisher=Greenwood |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201441/https://books.google.com/books?id=NwvoM-ZFoAgC&pg=PA134 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Fine|first=John Van Antwerp|title=The early medieval Balkans: a critical survey from the sixth to the late twelfth century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YbS9QmwDC58C&pg=PA30|year=1991|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0-472-08149-3|page=308|access-date=29 June 2020|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201443/https://books.google.com/books?id=YbS9QmwDC58C&pg=PA30|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Kopeček|first=Michal|editor=Balázs Trencsényi|title=Discourses of collective identity in Central and Southeast Europe (1770–1945): texts and commentaries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TpPWvubBL0MC&pg=PA240|year=2007|publisher=Central European University Press|isbn=978-963-7326-60-8|page=240|access-date=29 June 2020|archive-date=15 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915144811/https://books.google.com/books?id=TpPWvubBL0MC&pg=PA240%2F|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=reykjavkur>Axel Kristinsson (2010). ''Expansions: Competition and Conquest in Europe Since the Bronze Age''. Reykjavíkur Akademían. {{ISBN|9979992212}}. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9s2uzr47M-cC&pg=PA194= p. 194].</ref> However the controversial issue of their ethnogenesis is a popular subject in the works of the [[nationalist]] scientists. The fierce debates started in the 19th century and the questionable proportions of the presumed Thracian, Bulgar, and Slavic ancestry, have depended on the [[geopolitical]] situation of the country and on ideological and political predilections.<ref>Nikolova, L.; Gergova, D. (2017). "Contemporary Bulgarian Archaeology as a Social Practice in the Later Twentieth to Early Twenty-first Century". In: Lozny L., ed. ''Archaeology of the Communist Era''. Springer. {{ISBN|978-3-319-45108-4}}.</ref><ref>Diana Mishkova (2011). "Differentiation in Entanglement: Debates on Antiquity, Ethnogenesis and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Bulgaria". In Klaniczay, Gábor and Werner, Michael, eds. ''Multiple Antiquities – Multiple Modernities: Ancient Histories in Nineteenth Century European Cultures''. Frankfurt, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 213–246.</ref> These supposed proportions have been changed several times during the 20th century, emphasizing usually the Slavic part of Bulgarian ancestry, related to the traditionally strong [[Russophilia]] in the country.<ref>Stefan Detchev (2009). "Who are the Bulgarians? 'Race,' Science and Politics in Fin-de-siècle Bulgaria". In Diana Mishkova, ed. ''We, the People: Politics of National Peculiarity in Southeastern Europe''. Central European University Press. {{ISBN|9639776289}}. pp. 237–269.</ref><ref>T. Kamusella, Peter Burke (2008, ''The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe'', Springer, {{ISBN|0230583474}}, p. 285.</ref> However, during the 1970s [[Thracology]] was especially supported by the [[People's Republic of Bulgaria|communist authority]], as an attempt to underline the indigenous influence into the Bulgarian ethnogenesis. After the [[fall of Communism]], the spiritualized image of the Thracians began to fade. Following the cooling of [[Bulgaria–Russia relations|relations with Russia]] and the [[Bulgarian EU Accession|country's EU accession]], the opinion on significant Bulgar genetic impact was launched among nationalist circles that lately have downplayed the country's Slavic ancestry.<ref>Raymond Detrez, ''Historical Dictionary of Bulgaria'', Rowman & Littlefield, 2014, {{ISBN|1442241802}}, pp. 189–190.</ref><ref>Tchavdar Marinov (2015). "Ancient Thrace in the Modern Imagination: Ideological Aspects of the Construction of Thracian Studies in Southeast Europe (Romania, Greece, Bulgaria)". In ''Entangled Histories of the Balkans''. Vol. 3. {{ISBN|9789004290365}}. pp 10–117.</ref> From a limited group of Turkic equestrian nomads, the Danubian Bulgars were reinterpreted by them as a numerous [[Aryan people]], with a unique culture.<ref>Rumen Daskalov (2011). {{lang|bg|italic=yes|Чудният свят на древните българи}} [The Wonderful World of the Ancient Bulgarians]. Gutenberg. {{ISBN|9546171212}}, pp. 7–11.</ref><ref>Aleksandar Nikolov (2013). {{lang|bg|italic=yes|"Параисторията като феномен на прехода: преоткриването на древните българи"}} [Parahistory as a Phenomenon of Transition: The Rediscovery of the Ancient Bulgarians]. In Y. Todorov and A. Lunin, eds. {{lang|bg|italic=yes|Историческият хабитус: опредметената история}} [''The Historical Habitus: Objectified History'']. pp. 24–63.</ref>{{Publisher missing|date=January 2025}}

==Genetic origins==
{{Main|Genetic studies on Bulgarians}}
[[File:A genetic atlas of human admixture history - East Europe II and Mediterranean.png|thumb|upright=2.25|Historical contribution of donor source groups in European peoples according to Hellenthal et al., (2014). Polish is selected to represent Slavic-speaking donor groups from the Middle Ages that are estimated to make up 97% of the ancestry in Belarusians, 80% in Russians, 55% in Bulgarians, 54% in Hungarians, 48% in Romanians, 46% in Chuvash and 30% in Greeks.<ref>{{cite web |work=A genetic atlas of human admixture history |title=Companion website for "A genetic atlas of human admixture history", Hellenthal et al, Science (2014) |url=http://admixturemap.paintmychromosomes.com/}}<br />
{{cite journal |last1=Hellenthal |first1=Garrett |last2=Busby |first2=George B.J. |last3=Band |first3=Gavin |last4=Wilson |first4=James F. |last5=Capelli |first5=Cristian |last6=Falush |first6=Daniel |last7=Myers |first7=Simon |title=A Genetic Atlas of Human Admixture History |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=14 February 2014 |volume=343 |issue=6172 |pages=747–751 |doi=10.1126/science.1243518 |pmid=24531965 |pmc=4209567 |issn=0036-8075|bibcode=2014Sci...343..747H }}<br /> 
{{cite journal |title=Supplementary Material for "A genetic atlas of human admixture history" |journal = Science|volume = 343|issue = 6172|pages=747–751 |quote=S7.6 "East Europe": The difference between the 'East Europe I' and 'East Europe II' analyses is that the latter analysis included the Polish as a potential donor population. The Polish were included in this analysis to reflect a Slavic language speaking source group." "We speculate that the second event seen in our six Eastern Europe populations between northern European and southern European ancestral sources may correspond to the expansion of Slavic language speaking groups (commonly referred to as the Slavic expansion) across this region at a similar time, perhaps related to displacement caused by the Eurasian steppe invaders (38; 58). Under this scenario, the northerly source in the second event might represent DNA from Slavic-speaking migrants (sampled Slavic-speaking groups are excluded from being donors in the EastEurope I analysis). To test consistency with this, we repainted these populations adding the Polish as a single Slavic-speaking donor group (“East Europe II” analysis; see Note S7.6) and, in doing so, they largely replaced the original North European component (Figure S21), although we note that two nearby populations, Belarus and Lithuania, are equally often inferred as sources in our original analysis (Table S12). Outside these six populations, an admixture event at the same time (910CE, 95% CI:720-1140CE) is seen in the southerly neighboring Greeks, between sources represented by multiple neighboring Mediterranean peoples (63%) and the Polish (37%), suggesting a strong and early impact of the Slavic expansions in Greece, a subject of recent debate (37). These shared signals we find across East European groups could explain a recent observation of an excess of IBD sharing among similar groups, including Greece, that was dated to a wide range between 1,000 and 2,000 years ago (37)|pmc = 4209567|year = 2014|last1 = Hellenthal|first1 = G.|last2 = Busby|first2 = G. B.|last3 = Band|first3 = G.|last4 = Wilson|first4 = J. F.|last5 = Capelli|first5 = C.|last6 = Falush|first6 = D.|last7 = Myers|first7 = S.|pmid = 24531965|doi = 10.1126/science.1243518 |bibcode = 2014Sci...343..747H}}</ref>]]
According to a triple analysis – [[autosome|autosomal]], [[mitochondrial]] and [[Y-DNA|paternal]] — of available data from large-scale studies on [[Balts|Balto]]-[[Slavs]] and their proximal populations, the whole genome [[Single nucleotide polymorphism|SNP]] data situates Bulgarians in a cluster with [[Romanians]], [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]] and [[Gagauzes]], and they are at similar proximity to [[Serbs]] and [[Montenegrins]].<ref name=pmid26332464/>

Bulgarians, like most Europeans, largely descend from three distinct lineages:<ref name="Indo-European"/> Mesolithic [[hunter-gatherer]]s, descended from populations associated with the Paleolithic [[Epigravettian]] culture;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Posth |first1=C. |last2=Yu |first2=H. |last3=Ghalichi |first3=A. |title=Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |date=2023 |volume=615 |issue=2 March 2023 |pages=117–126 |doi=10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 |pmid=36859578 |pmc=9977688 |bibcode=2023Natur.615..117P }}</ref> Neolithic [[Early European Farmers]] who migrated from Anatolia during the [[Neolithic Revolution]] 9,000 years ago;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Thousands of horsemen may have swept into Bronze Age Europe, transforming the local population |journal=Science |date=21 February 2017 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |access-date=22 April 2023 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925154535/https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe herders]] who expanded into Europe from the [[Pontic steppe]] in the context of [[Indo-European migrations]] 5,000 years ago.<ref name="Indo-European">{{Cite journal|last1=Haak |first1=Wolfgang |last2=Lazaridis |first2=Iosif |last3=Patterson |first3=Nick |last4=Rohland |first4=Nadin |last5=Mallick |first5=Swapan |last6=Llamas |first6=Bastien |last7=Brandt |first7=Guido |last8=Nordenfelt |first8=Susanne |last9=Harney |first9=Eadaoin |last10=Stewardson |first10=Kristin |last11=Fu |first11=Qiaomei |date=11 June 2015 |title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=522 |issue=7555 |pages=207–211 |doi=10.1038/nature14317 |issn=0028-0836 |pmc=5048219 |pmid=25731166 |bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H |arxiv=1502.02783}}</ref>

==History==
{{See also|Nationalism in the Middle Ages|Byzantine commonwealth|Rum Millet}}
{{Bulgarians}}
[[File:05 633 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops.jpg|thumb|upright|Officers from Bulgarian [[hussar]] regiment in Russia (1776–1783)]]
Although contemporary Bulgaria is a young nation state, its traces go back to The First Bulgarian Empire which was founded in 681 as a Slav-Bulgar state.<ref name= "Giatzidis"/> After the adoption of [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christianity]] in 864 it became one of the cultural centres of Slavic Europe. Its leading cultural position was consolidated with the invention of the [[Cyrillic script]] in its capital [[Preslav]] at the eve of the 10th century.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YIAYMNOOe0YC&pg=PR1 |title=Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250, Cambridge Medieval Textbooks |first=Florin |last=Curta |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |pages=221–222 |access-date=2015-02-11|isbn=9780521815390}}</ref> The development of [[Old Church Slavonic]] literacy in the country during the 10th century, had the effect of preventing the assimilation of the [[South Slavs]] into neighbouring cultures. Also, it stimulated the development of a Bulgarian national identity, that was far from modern nationalism but it helped Bulgaria to survive as a distinct entity through the centuries.<ref name= "Giatzidis">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MUVgsK_GfxYC&pg=PA11 |title=An Introduction to Post-Communist Bulgaria: Political, Economic and Social Transformations |first=Emil |last=Giatzidis |publisher=Manchester University Press |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780719060953 |year=2002 |pages=10-11|archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115223028/https://books.google.com/books?id=MUVgsK_GfxYC&pg=PA11 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C&q=Thus+by+Peter%27s+reign+the+Bulgar+and+Slavic+elements+had+merged+to+form+a+Slavic |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |first=John V. A. Jr. |last=Fine |publisher=University of Michigan |year=1991 |page=165 |via=Books.google.bg |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=978-0472081493 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201444/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C&q=Thus+by+Peter%27s+reign+the+Bulgar+and+Slavic+elements+had+merged+to+form+a+Slavic#v=snippet&q=Thus%20by%20Peter's%20reign%20the%20Bulgar%20and%20Slavic%20elements%20had%20merged%20to%20form%20a%20Slavic&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Poulton2000">{{cite book|last=Poulton|first=Hugh|title=Who are the Macedonians?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppbuavUZKEwC&pg=PA19|edition=2nd|year=2000|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=978-1-85065-534-3|pages=19–20}}</ref> A symbiosis was carried out between the numerically weak Bulgars and the numerous Slavic tribes in that broad area from the Danube to the north, to the [[Aegean Sea]] to the south, and from the [[Adriatic Sea]] to the west, to the [[Black Sea]] to the east, who accepted the common [[demonym]] "''Bulgarians''".<ref>{{cite book |author=Vassil Karloukovski |url=http://www.kroraina.com/macedon/mik_6_1.html |title=Средновековни градови и тврдини во Македонија. Иван Микулчиќ (Скопје, Македонска цивилизација, 1996) |isbn=978-9989756078 |page=72 |publisher=Kroraina.com |access-date=2015-02-11 |year=1996 |archive-date=15 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915012207/http://www.kroraina.com/macedon/mik_6_1.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1018, Bulgaria lost its independence and remained a Byzantine subject until 1185, when the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]] was created.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC&q=bulgaria+ceased+to+exist+1018&pg=PA364 |title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500 |first=Jean W. |last=Sedlar |publisher=University of Washington Press |page=364 |year=1994 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780295800646 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201444/https://books.google.com/books?id=ANdbpi1WAIQC&q=bulgaria+ceased+to+exist+1018&pg=PA364 |url-status=live }}</ref> Nevertheless, at the end of the 14th century, the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] conquered the whole of Bulgaria.<ref name="Ottoman rule" /> Under the Ottoman system, Christians were considered an inferior class of people. Thus, Bulgarians, like other Christians, were subjected to heavy taxes and a small portion of the Bulgarian populace experienced partial or complete Islamisation.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zQsB_AghBKkC&pg=PA8 |title=Conversion to Islam in the Balkans: Kisve Bahası – Petitions and Ottoman Social Life, 1670–1730 |first=Anton |last=Minkov |publisher=BRILL |year=2004 |page=193 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=978-9004135765 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201444/https://books.google.com/books?id=zQsB_AghBKkC&pg=PA8#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> Orthodox Christians were included in a specific ethno-religious community called ''[[Rum Millet]]''. To the common people, belonging to this Orthodox commonwealth became more important than their ethnic origins.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=htMUx8qlWCMC&pg=PA47 |title=Europe and the Historical Legacies in the Balkans |first1=Raymond |last1=Detrez |first2=Barbara |last2=Segaert |first3=Peter |last3=Lang |page=36 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9789052013749 |year=2008 |publisher=Peter Lang |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201445/https://books.google.com/books?id=htMUx8qlWCMC&pg=PA47#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> This community became both, basic form of social organization and source of identity for all the ethnic groups inside it.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=082osLxyBDgC&pg=PA17 |title=Studies on Ottoman Social and Political History: Selected Articles and Essays |first=Kemal H. |last=Karpat |publisher=Brill |year=2002 |page=17 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=978-9004121010 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201446/https://books.google.com/books?id=082osLxyBDgC&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> In this way, ethnonyms were rarely used and between the 15th and 19th centuries, most of the local people gradually began to identify themselves simply as ''Christians''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7oAUeUVtc58C&pg=PA276 ''Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity''], Disciplinary and Regional Perspectives, Joshua A. Fishman, Ofelia García, Oxford University Press, 2010, {{ISBN|0195374924}}, p. 276: "There were almost no remnants of a Bulgarian ethnic identity; the population defined itself as Christians, according to the Ottoman system of millets, that is, communities of religious beliefs. The first attempts to define a Bulgarian ethnicity started at the beginning of the 19th century."</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Roudometof |first1=Victor |last2=Robertson |first2=Roland |title=Nationalism, globalization, and orthodoxy: the social origins of ethnic conflict in the Balkans |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |year=2001 |pages=68–71 |isbn=978-0313319495 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&q=rum+millet+identity&pg=PA68 |access-date=16 October 2020 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201446/https://books.google.com/books?id=I9p_m7oXQ00C&q=rum+millet+identity&pg=PA68 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, the public-spirited clergy in some isolated monasteries still kept the distinct Bulgarian identity alive,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ULXk_ofPSgC&pg=PA219 |title=Margins and Marginality: Marginalia and Colophons in South Slavic Manuscripts During the Ottoman Period, 1393–1878 |first=Tatiana Nikolaeva |last=Nikolova-Houston |pages=202–206 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780549650751 |year=2008 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> and this helped it to survive predominantly in rural, remote areas.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofmo00cram |url-access=registration |title=Modern Bulgaria |first=R. J. |last=Crampton |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1987 |page=[https://archive.org/details/shorthistoryofmo00cram/page/8 8] |access-date=2015-02-11|isbn=9780521273237}}</ref> Despite the process of ethno-religious fusion among the Orthodox Christians, strong nationalist sentiments persisted into the [[Roman Catholicism in Bulgaria|Catholic community]] in the northwestern part of the country.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jR98-Ata0CkC&pg=PA260 |title=Religion and Power in Europe: Conflict and Convergence |first=Joaquim |last=Carvalho |publisher=Edizioni Plus |page=261 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9788884924643 |year=2007 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201741/https://books.google.com/books?id=jR98-Ata0CkC&pg=PA260#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> At that time, a process of partial Hellenization occurred among the intelligentsia and the urban population, as a result of the higher status of the Greek culture and the [[Greek Orthodox Church]] among the Balkan Christians. During the second half of the 18th century, the [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] in [[Western Europe]] provided influence for the initiation of the [[National awakening of Bulgaria]] in 1762.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x8lPyP6iE1YC&pg=PR4 |title=A Comparative Study of Post-Ottoman Political Influences on Bulgarian National Identity Construction and Conflict |first=Spencer S. |last=Stith |pages=22–23 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780549683957 |year=2008 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Some Bulgarians supported the Russian Army when they crossed the Danube in the middle of the 18th century. Russia worked to convince them to settle in areas recently conquered by it, especially in [[Bessarabia]]. As a consequence, many Bulgarian refugees settled there, and later they formed two military regiments, as part of the Russian military colonization of the area in 1759–1763.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Vladimir |last1=Milchev |title=Два хусарски полка с българско участие в системата на държавната военна колонизация в Южна Украйна (1759-1762/63 г.) |trans-title=Two Hussar Regiments with Bulgarian Participation in the System of the State Military Colonization in Southern Ukraine (1759-1762/63) |language=bg |journal=Исторически преглед |year=2002 |issue=5–6 |pages=154–65 |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=113707 |access-date=22 November 2016 |archive-date=31 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201231081650/https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=113707 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Bulgarian national movement===
{{See also|Bulgarian Millet|Macedonian Bulgarians}}
During the [[Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812)|Russo-Turkish Wars of 1806–1812]] and [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|1828–1829]] Bulgarian emigrants formed the [[Bulgarian Land Army (1810-1812)|Bulgarian Countrymen's Army]] and joined the [[Imperial Russian Army|Russian Army]], hoping Russia would bring Bulgarian liberation, but its imperial interests were focused then on [[Greece]] and [[Wallachia]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBYriPYyfUoC&pg=PA137 |title=Establishment of the Balkan National States: 1804–1918 |first1=Charles |last1=Jelavich |first2=Barbara |last2=Jelavich |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=1977 |page=128 |access-date=2015-02-11 |isbn=9780295803609 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201742/https://books.google.com/books?id=LBYriPYyfUoC&pg=PA137#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire]] led to a struggle for cultural and religious autonomy of the Bulgarian people. The Bulgarians wanted to have their own schools and liturgy in Bulgarian, and they needed an independent ecclesiastical organisation. Discontent with the supremacy of the Greek Orthodox clergy, the struggle started to flare up in several Bulgarian dioceses in the 1820s.

It was not until the 1850s when the Bulgarians initiated a purposeful struggle against the [[Patriarchate of Constantinople]]. The struggle between the Bulgarians and the Greek [[Phanariotes]] intensified throughout the 1860s. In 1861 the [[Holy See|Vatican]] and the Ottoman government recognized a separate [[Bulgarian Uniat Church]]. As the Greek clerics were ousted from most Bulgarian bishoprics at the end of the decade, significant areas had been seceded from the Patriarchate's control. This movement restored the distinct Bulgarian national consciousness among the common people and led to the recognition of the [[Bulgarian millet]] in 1870 by the Ottomans. As result, two armed struggle movements started to develop as late as the beginning of the 1870s: the [[Internal Revolutionary Organisation]] and the [[Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee]]. Their armed struggle reached its peak with the [[April Uprising]] which broke out in 1876. It resulted in the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)|Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)]], and led to the [[Liberation of Bulgaria|foundation of the third Bulgarian state]] after the [[Treaty of San Stefano]]. The issue of [[Bulgarian nationalism]] gained greater significance, following the [[Congress of Berlin]] which took back the Macedonia and [[Adrianople Vilayet|Adrianople]] regions, returning them under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Also an autonomous Ottoman province, called [[Eastern Rumelia]] was created in [[Northern Thrace]]. As a consequence, the Bulgarian national movement proclaimed as its aim the inclusion of most of [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Thrace]] and [[Moesia]] under Greater Bulgaria.

Eastern Rumelia was annexed to Bulgaria in 1885 through bloodless revolution. During the early 1890s, two pro-Bulgarian revolutionary organizations were founded: the [[Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization]] and the [[Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee]]. In 1903 they participated in the unsuccessful [[Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising]] against the Ottomans in Macedonia and the Adrianople Vilayet. [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia|Macedonian Slavs]] were identified then predominantly as Bulgarians, and significant Bulgarophile sentiments endured up among them until the end of the Second World War.<ref>Up until the early 20th century and beyond, the international community viewed Macedonians as regional variety of Bulgarians, i.e. Western Bulgarians.[https://books.google.com/books?id=-7TgkO8utHIC&q=Nationalism+and+Territory:+Constructing+Group+Identity+in+Southeastern+Europe,+Geographical+perspectives+on+the+human+past+:+Europe:+Current+Events,+George+W.+White,+Rowman+%26+Littlefield,+2000, ''Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe, Geographical perspectives on the human past : Europe: Current Events''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507150132/https://books.google.com/books?id=-7TgkO8utHIC&q=Nationalism+and+Territory:+Constructing+Group+Identity+in+Southeastern+Europe,+Geographical+perspectives+on+the+human+past+:+Europe:+Current+Events,+George+W.+White,+Rowman+&+Littlefield,+2000, |date=7 May 2023 }}, George W. White, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000, {{ISBN|0847698092}}, p. 236.</ref><ref>"Most of the Slavophone inhabitants in all parts of divided Macedonia, perhaps a million and a half in all – had a Bulgarian national consciousness at the beginning of the Occupation; and most Bulgarians, whether they supported the Communists, VMRO, or the collaborating government, assumed that all Macedonia would fall to Bulgaria after the WWII. Tito was determined that this should not happen. "{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bhNG-62oEcQC&pg=PA67 |title=The struggle for Greece, 1941–1949 |first=Christopher Montague |last=Woodhouse |publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-85065-492-6 |page=67 |access-date=14 November 2015 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201736/https://books.google.com/books?id=bhNG-62oEcQC&pg=PA67 |url-status=live }}</ref> However, most of the Macedonian Slavs did not develop a clear national identity at all, any expression of national identity among the majority was purely superficial and was imposed by the nationalist [[Slavic speakers in Ottoman Macedonia#National antagonisms|educational and religious propaganda]] or by [[Macedonian Struggle|terrorism]].<ref>"At the end of the WWI there were very few historians or ethnographers, who claimed that a separate Macedonian nation existed... Of those Slavs who had developed some sense of national identity, the majority probably considered themselves to be Bulgarians, although they were aware of differences between themselves and the inhabitants of Bulgaria... The question as of whether a Macedonian nation actually existed in the 1940s when a Communist Yugoslavia decided to recognize one is difficult to answer. Some observers argue that even at this time it was doubtful whether the Slavs from Macedonia considered themselves to be a nationality separate from the Bulgarians." {{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmesOn_HhfEC&pg=PA58 |title=The Macedonian conflict: ethnic nationalism in a transnational world |first=Loring M. |last=Danforth |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-691-04356-2 |pages=58–66 |access-date=14 November 2015 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201744/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZmesOn_HhfEC&pg=PA66#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>During the 20th century, Slavo-Macedonian national feeling has shifted. At the beginning of the 20th century, Slavic patriots in Macedonia felt a strong attachment to Macedonia as a multi-ethnic homeland. They imagined a Macedonian community uniting themselves with non-Slavic Macedonians... Most of these Macedonian Slavs also saw themselves as Bulgarians. By the middle of the 20th. century, however Macedonian patriots began to see Macedonian and Bulgarian loyalties as mutually exclusive. Regional Macedonian nationalism had become ethnic Macedonian nationalism... This transformation shows that the content of collective loyalties can shift.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RveDmHbIv8C&pg=PA147 |title=Region, Regional Identity and Regionalism in Southeastern Europe, Ethnologia Balkanica Series |first1=Klaus |last1=Roth |first2=Ulf |last2=Brunnbauer |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year=2010 |isbn=978-3825813871 |pages=127-129}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Kaufman |first1=Stuart J. |title=Modern hatreds: the symbolic politics of ethnic war |year=2001 |publisher=Cornell University Press |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8014-8736-1 |page=193 |quote=The key fact about Macedonian nationalism is that it is new: in the early twentieth century, Macedonian villagers defined their identity religiously—they were either "Bulgarian," "Serbian," or "Greek" depending on the affiliation of the village priest. While ''Bulgarian'' was most common affiliation then, mistreatment by occupying Bulgarian troops during WWII cured most Macedonians from their pro-Bulgarian sympathies, leaving them embracing the new Macedonian identity promoted by the Tito regime after the war.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Rae | first1 = Heather | title = State identities and the homogenisation of peoples | year = 2002 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | isbn = 0-521-79708-X | page =274}}</ref>

In the early 20th century the control over Macedonia became a key point of contention between Bulgaria, Greece, and [[Serbia]], who fought the First Balkan War of [[First Balkan War|(1912–1913)]] and the Second Balkan War of [[Second Balkan War|(1913)]]. The area was further fought over during the World War I [[Bulgaria during World War I|(1915–1918)]] and the World War II [[Military history of Bulgaria during World War II|(1941–1944)]].

==Demographics==
{{Main|Demographics of Bulgaria}}
[[File:Map of the Bulgarian Diaspora in the World.svg|thumb|300x300px|Map of the [[Bulgarian diaspora]] in the world (includes people with Bulgarian ancestry or citizenship).<br />
{{Legend|#000000|Bulgaria}}
{{Legend|#024F37|+ 100,000}}
{{Legend|#009B74|+ 10,000}}
{{Legend|#62DDB1|+ 1,000}}]]
Most Bulgarians live in [[Bulgaria]], where they number around 6 million,<ref name=experts /><ref name=2001census /> constituting 85% of the population. Bulgarian minorities exist in [[Bulgarians in Serbia|Serbia]], [[Bulgarians in Romania|Romania]] ([[Banat Bulgarians]]), [[Bulgarians in Hungary|Hungary]], [[Bulgarians in Albania|Albania]], as well as in [[Bulgarians in Ukraine|Ukraine]] and [[Bulgarians in Moldova|Moldova]] (see [[Bessarabian Bulgarians]]). Many Bulgarians also live in the diaspora, which is formed by representatives and descendants of the old (before 1989) and new (after 1989) emigration. The old emigration was made up of some 2,470,000 {{Citation needed|date=August 2009}} economic and several tens of thousands of political emigrants, and was directed for the most part to the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Brazil and Germany. The new emigration is estimated at some 970,000 people and can be divided into two major subcategories: permanent emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, directed mostly to the [[Bulgarian American|U.S.]], [[Bulgarian Canadian|Canada]], Austria, and [[Bulgarians in Germany|Germany]] and labour emigration at the end of the 1990s, directed for the most part to [[Greece]], Italy, the UK and Spain. Migrations to the West have been quite steady even in the late 1990s and early 21st century, as people continue moving to countries like the US, Canada and Australia. Most Bulgarians living in Canada can be found in Toronto, Ontario, and the provinces with the most Bulgarians in Canada are [[Ontario]] and [[Quebec]]. According to the 2001 census there were 1,124,240 Bulgarian citizens in the city of [[Sofia]],<ref name=2001census/> 302,858 in [[Plovdiv]], 300,000 in [[Varna, Bulgaria|Varna]] and about 200,000 in [[Burgas]]. The total number of Bulgarians stood at over 9 million.<ref name="dnevnik.bg"/><ref name="maritsa.com"/>

==Associated ethnic groups==
Bulgarians are considered most closely related to the [[Macedonians (ethnic group)|Macedonians]].<ref name="DictEastEur"/> The [[Slavic speakers of Greek Macedonia]] and the [[Torlak]] speakers in [[Serbia]] are also closely related to Bulgarians. 

==Culture==

===Language===
{{Main|Bulgarian language}}
Bulgarians speak a [[Bulgarian language|South Slavic language]] which is [[mutually intelligible]] with [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] and to a lesser degree with [[Serbo-Croatian]], especially the eastern dialects.<ref>Стойков, Стойко: Българска диалектология, Акад. изд. "Проф. Марин Дринов", 2006.</ref> The [[Lexical similarity|lexical similarities]] between Bulgarian and Macedonian are 86%, between Bulgarian and other Slavic languages between 71% and 80%, but with the Baltic languages they are 40–46%, while with English are about 20%.<ref>Girdenis A., Maziulis V. Baltu kalbu divercencine chronologija // Baltistica. T. XXVII (2). – Vilnius, 1994. – P. 9.</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://s7.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/images/2014/11/8961e8d7dbfed620c32c2f2be38da936.jpg|title=Топоров В.Н. Прусский язык. Словарь. А – D. – М., 1975. – С. 5|website=S7.hostingkartinok.com|access-date=20 December 2017|archive-date=22 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222050920/http://s7.hostingkartinok.com/uploads/images/2014/11/8961e8d7dbfed620c32c2f2be38da936.jpg|url-status=live}}</ref> Less than a dozen Bulgarian words are derived from [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] [[Bulgar language|Bulgar]].<ref name=fine/>

Bulgarian demonstrates some linguistic developments that set it apart from other Slavic languages shared with [[Romanian language|Romanian]], [[Albanian language|Albanian]] and [[Greek language|Greek]] (see [[Balkan language area]]). Bulgarian was influenced lexically by medieval and modern Greek, and [[Ottoman Turkish language|Turkish]]. [[Old Bulgarian language|Medieval Bulgarian]] influenced the other South Slavic languages and Romanian. With Bulgarian and Russian there was a mutual influence in both directions. Both languages were official or a lingua franca of each other during the Middle Ages and the Cold War. Recently, Bulgarian has borrowed many words from German, French and English.

The Bulgarian language is spoken by the majority of the [[Bulgarian diaspora]], but less so by the descendants of earlier emigrants to the U.S., Canada, [[Argentina]] and [[Brazil]].

Bulgarian linguists consider the officialized [[Macedonian language]] (since 1944) to be a local codified variation of Bulgarian, just as most ethnographers and linguists until the early 20th century considered the local Slavic speech in the Macedonian region as Bulgarian dialects.{{cn|date=September 2023}} The president of Bulgaria, [[Zhelyu Zhelev]], declined to recognize Macedonian as a separate language when North Macedonia became a new independent state. The Bulgarian language is written in the [[Cyrillic script]].

====Cyrillic alphabet====
{{Main|Cyrillic alphabet}}
[[File:Ocslavonic.gif|thumb|right|Cyrillic alphabet of the medieval [[Old Bulgarian]] language]]

In the first half of the 10th century, the [[Cyrillic script]] was devised in the [[Preslav Literary School]], [[First Bulgarian Empire|Bulgaria]], based on the [[Glagolitic alphabet|Glagolitic]], the [[Greek alphabet|Greek]] and [[Latin alphabet|Latin]] alphabets. Modern versions of the alphabet are now used to write five more [[Slavic languages]] such as [[Belarusian language|Belarusian]], [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]], Russian, [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]] as well as [[Mongolian language|Mongolian]] and some other 60 languages spoken in the former [[Soviet Union]]. [[First Bulgarian Empire|Medieval Bulgaria]] was the most important cultural centre of the [[Slavic people]]s at the end of the 9th and throughout the 10th century. The two literary schools of [[Preslav Literary School|Preslav]] and [[Ohrid Literary School|Ohrid]] developed a rich literary and cultural activity with authors of the rank of [[Constantine of Preslav]], [[John Exarch]], [[Chernorizets Hrabar]], [[Clement of Ohrid|Clement]] and [[Naum of Ohrid]]. Bulgaria exerted similar influence on its neighbouring countries in the mid- to late 14th century, at the time of the [[Tarnovo Literary School]], with the work of [[Patriarch Evtimiy]], [[Gregory Tsamblak]], [[Constantine of Kostenets]] (Konstantin Kostenechki). Bulgarian cultural influence was especially strong in [[Wallachia]] and [[Moldova]] where the Cyrillic script was used until 1860, while [[Church Slavonic language|Church Slavonic]] was the official language of the princely [[chancellor|chancellery]] and of the church until the end of the 17th century.

====Name system====
{{Main|Bulgarian name}}

There are several different layers of Bulgarian names. The vast majority of them have either Christian (names like Lazar, [[Ivan (name)|Ivan]], Anna, Maria, Ekaterina) or [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] origin (Vladimir, Svetoslav, Velislava). After the Liberation in 1878, the names of historical [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] rulers like [[Asparuh]], [[Krum]], [[Kubrat]] and [[Tervel]] were resurrected. The Bulgar name [[Boris (first name)|Boris]] has spread from Bulgaria to a number of countries in the world.

Most Bulgarian male surnames have an ''-ov'' [[family name affix|surname suffix]] ([[Cyrillic]]: {{lang|bg|-ов}}), a tradition used mostly by Eastern Slavic nations such as [[Russia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Belarus]]. This is sometimes [[Transcription (linguistics)|transcribed]] as ''-off'' or ''-of'' (John Atanasov—[[John Atanasoff]]), but more often as ''-ov'' (e.g. [[Boyko Borisov]]). The ''-ov'' suffix is the Slavic gender-[[agreement (linguistics)|agreeing]] suffix, thus ''Ivanov'' ({{langx|bg|Иванов}}) literally means "Ivan's". Bulgarian middle names are patronymic and use the gender-agreeing suffix as well, thus the middle name of Nikola's son becomes ''Nikolov'', and the middle name of Ivan's son becomes ''Ivanov''. Since names in Bulgarian are gender-based, Bulgarian women have the ''-ova'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-овa}}), for example, ''Maria Ivanova''. The plural form of Bulgarian names ends in ''-ovi'' (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ови}}), for example the ''Ivanovi'' family ({{lang|bg|Иванови}}).

<!-- too verbose... -->Other common Bulgarian male surnames have the ''-ev'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ев}}), for example ''Stoev'', ''Ganchev'', ''Peev'', and so on. The female surname in this case would have the ''-eva'' surname suffix (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-ева}}), for example: ''Galina Stoeva''. The last name of the entire family then would have the plural form of ''-evi'' (Cyrillic: {{lang|bg|-еви}}), for example: the ''Stoevi'' family ({{lang|bg|Стоеви}}).

Another typical Bulgarian surname suffix, though less common, is ''-ski''. This surname ending also gets an ''–a'' when the bearer of the name is female (''Smirnenski'' becomes ''Smirnenska''). The plural form of the surname suffix ''-ski'' is still ''-ski'', e.g. the ''Smirnenski'' family ({{lang|bg|Смирненски}}).

The ending ''–in'' (female ''-ina'') also appears rarely. It used to be given to the child of an unmarried woman (for example the son of ''Kuna'' will get the surname ''Kunin'' and the son of ''Gana'' – ''Ganin''). The surname suffix ''-ich'' can be found only occasionally, primarily among the Roman Catholic Bulgarians. The surname ending ''–ich'' does not get an additional ''–a'' if the bearer of the name is female.

===Religion===
{{main|Eastern Orthodox Church|Bulgarian Orthodox Church}}
[[File:Bulgarian-Exarchate-1870-1913.jpg|right|250px|thumb|Map of the [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] (1870–1913). The Ottomans required a threshold of two thirds of positive votes of the Orthodox population to include a region into this jurisdiction.<ref>Hupchick, D.''The Palgrave Concise Historical Atlas of Eastern Europe'', p. 67. Springer, 2016, {{ISBN|9781137048172}}</ref>]]

Most Bulgarians are at least nominally members of the [[Bulgarian Orthodox Church]] founded in 870 AD ([[autocephalous]] since 927 AD). The Bulgarian Orthodox Church is the independent national church of Bulgaria like the other national branches of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodox communion]] and is considered a dominating element of Bulgarian national consciousness. The church was abolished once, during the period of Ottoman rule (1396—1878), in 1873 it was revived as [[Bulgarian Exarchate]] and soon after raised again to Bulgarian [[Patriarchate]]. In 2021, the Orthodox Church at least nominally had a total of 4,219,270 members in Bulgaria (71.5% of the population),<ref name=Census>{{cite web|url=https://nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/pressreleases/Census2021_ethnos.pdf|title=Преброяване 2021: Етнокултурна характеристика на населението|trans-title=2021 Census: Ethnocultural characteristics of the population|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124195716/https://nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/pressreleases/Census2021_ethnos.pdf|archive-date=24 November 2022|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=staff |first=The Sofia Globe |date=2022-11-24 |title=Census 2021: Close to 72% of Bulgarians say they are Christians |url=https://sofiaglobe.com/2022/11/24/census-2021-close-to-72-of-bulgarians-say-they-are-christians/ |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=The Sofia Globe |language=en-US}}</ref> down from 6,552,000 (83%) at the 2001 census. 3,980,131 of these pointed out the Bulgarian ethnic group (79% of the total Bulgarian ethnic group).<ref>{{Cite web |title=71.5% are the Christians in Bulgaria - Novinite.com - Sofia News Agency|url=https://www.novinite.com/articles/217761/71.5+are+the+Christians+in+Bulgaria |access-date=2023-11-27 |website=www.novinite.com}}</ref><ref name=Census/> The Orthodox Bulgarian minorities in [[Romania]], Serbia, [[Greece]], Albania, [[Ukraine]] and [[Moldova]] nowadays hold allegiance to the respective national Orthodox churches.

Despite the position of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church as a unifying symbol for all Bulgarians, small groups of Bulgarians have converted to other faiths through the course of time. During Ottoman rule, a substantial number of Bulgarians converted to Islam, forming the community of the [[Pomaks]] or [[Muslim Bulgarians]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2007/2-2007-Eminov.pdf |title=Social Construction of Identities: Pomaks in Bulgaria, Ali Eminov, JEMIE 6 (2007) 2 © 2007 by European Centre for Minority Issues |access-date=2015-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326094257/http://www.ecmi.de/fileadmin/downloads/publications/JEMIE/2007/2-2007-Eminov.pdf |archive-date=26 March 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In the 16th and the 17th centuries Roman Catholic missionaries converted a small number of Bulgarian [[Paulicians]] in the districts of [[Plovdiv]] and [[Svishtov]] to [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]. Nowadays there are some 40,000 Roman Catholic Bulgarians in Bulgaria, additional 10,000 in the [[Banat]] in Romania and up to 100,000 people of Bulgarian ancestry in South America. The Roman Catholic Bulgarians of the Banat are also descendants of Paulicians who fled there at the end of the 17th century after an unsuccessful uprising against the Ottomans. Protestantism was introduced in Bulgaria by missionaries from the United States in 1857. Missionary work continued throughout the second half of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Nowadays there are some 25,000 Protestant Bulgarians in Bulgaria.

===Art and science===
{{main|Cinema of Bulgaria|Bulgarian literature|Music of Bulgaria|Bulgarian dances|}}
{{multiple image
| align  = left|direction = horizontal|width = 120
| footer = [[Assen Jordanoff]] (left), Bulgarian American inventor considered by prominent aviation specialists the main contributor to the American knowledge of aviation, likewise the [[Boeing]], [[airbag]] and [[tape recorder]].<ref>{{cite web |author=От Труд онлайн |url=http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=2415075 |title=Архивът е в процес на прехвърляне – Труд |website=Trud.bg |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035743/http://www.trud.bg/Article.asp?ArticleId=2415075 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all}}</ref><br />[[John Vincent Atanasoff]] (right), Bulgarian American inventor of the [[Atanasoff-Berry computer]], legally the inventor of the electronic digital computer in the U.S. and considered the "father of the computer".<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=_Zja6hoP4 ]{{dead link|date=November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pNmm_Axdor8C&pg=PA8 |title=A to Z of Computer Scientists |author=Harry Henderson |page=8 |date=2014-05-14 |publisher=Infobase |access-date=2016-11-22|isbn=9781438109183}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n5omAAAAMAAJ&q=john+atanasoff+father+of+computer |title=Atanasoff: Forgotten Father of the Computer |author=Clark R. Mollenhoff |date=1999-02-28 |publisher=Iowa State University Press |access-date=2016-11-22 |isbn=9780813800325 |archive-date=28 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201737/https://books.google.com/books?id=n5omAAAAMAAJ&q=john+atanasoff+father+of+computer |url-status=live }}</ref>
| width1 = 220
| image1 = Asen Jordanov.png
| alt1   = Jordanov
| width2 = 180
| image2 = ATANASOFF Pic^6 - Flickr - Eye Steel Film.jpg
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}}
[[Boris Christoff]], [[Nicolai Ghiaurov]], [[Raina Kabaivanska]] and [[Ghena Dimitrova]] made a precious contribution to opera singing with Ghiaurov and Christoff being two of the greatest [[Bass (voice type)|bassos]] in the post-war period. Similarly, [[Anna-Maria Ravnopolska-Dean]] is one of the best-known harpists today.
Bulgarians have made valuable contributions to world culture in modern times as well. [[Julia Kristeva]] and [[Tzvetan Todorov]] were among the most influential European philosophers in the second half of the 20th century. The artist [[Christo]] is among the most famous representatives of [[environmental art]], with projects such as the [[Wrapped Reichstag]].

Bulgarians in the diaspora have also been active. American scientists and inventors of Bulgarian descent include [[John Atanasoff]], [[Peter Petroff]], and [[Assen Jordanoff]]. Bulgarian-American [[Stephane Groueff]] wrote the celebrated book ''Manhattan Project'', about the making of the first [[atomic bomb]] and also penned ''Crown of Thorns'', a biography of [[Tsar]] [[Boris III of Bulgaria]].

===Cuisine===
{{main|Bulgarian cuisine}}
[[File:Peach_kompot.JPG|right|thumb|Bulgarian peach [[kompot]] – non alcoholic clear juice obtained by cooking fruit]]

Famous for its rich salads required at every meal, Bulgarian cuisine is also noted for the diversity and quality of [[dairy product]]s and the variety of [[Bulgarian wine|local wines]] and alcoholic beverages such as [[rakia]], [[mastika]] and [[Menta (drink)|menta]]. Bulgarian cuisine features also a variety of hot and cold soups, an example of a cold soup being [[tarator]]. There are many different Bulgarian pastries as well such as [[banitsa]].

Most Bulgarian dishes are oven baked, steamed, or in the form of stew. Deep-frying is not very typical, but grilling—especially different kinds of meats—is very common. Pork meat is the most common meat in the Bulgarian cuisine. Oriental dishes do exist in Bulgarian cuisine with most common being [[moussaka]], [[gyuvetch]], and [[baklava]]. A very popular ingredient in Bulgarian cuisine is the Bulgarian white brine cheese called "[[sirene]]" (сирене). It is the main ingredient in many salads, as well as in a variety of pastries. Fish and chicken are widely eaten and while beef is less common as most cattle are bred for milk production rather than meat, [[veal]] is a natural byproduct of this process and it is found in many popular recipes. Bulgaria is a net exporter of lamb and its own consumption of the meat is prevalent during its production time in spring.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/572/bulgaria-poultry-and-products-meat-market-update |title=Bulgaria Poultry and Products Meat Market Update |publisher=The Poultry Site |date=2006-05-08 |access-date=2015-08-30 |archive-date=14 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214174248/http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/572/bulgaria-poultry-and-products-meat-market-update/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[bread and salt]] tradition, which is widespread among Balto-Slavs, is the usual welcome given to strangers and politicians.

===Folk beliefs and customs===
{{main|Bulgarian customs|Slavic mythology}}
[[File:Кукери.jpg|thumb|[[Kukeri]] from the area of [[Burgas]]]]
[[File:Lazarki from Gabra.jpg|thumb|Girls celebrating [[Lazarice|Lazaruvane]] from Gabrа, [[Sofia Province]]]]
Bulgarians may celebrate [[Saint Theodore's Day]] with horse racings. At Christmas Eve a [[Pogača]] with fortunes is cooked, which are afterwards put under the pillow. At [[Easter]] the first egg is painted red and is kept for a whole year. On the [[Baptism of Jesus]] a competition to catch the cross in the river is held and is believed the sky is "opened" and any wish will be fulfilled.

Bulgarians as well as [[Albanians]] nod the head up and down to indicates "no" and shake to indicate "yes". They may wear the [[martenitsa]] (мартеница)—an adornment made of white and red yarn and worn on the wrist or pinned on the clothes—from 1 March until the end of the month. Alternatively, one can take off the martenitsa earlier if one sees a stork (considered a harbinger of spring). One can then tie the martenitsa to the blossoming branch of a tree. Family-members and friends in Bulgaria customarily exchange martenitsas, which they regard as symbols of health and longevity. When a stork is seen, the martenitsa should be left on a tree. The white thread represents peace and tranquility, while the red one stands for the cycles of life. Bulgarians may also refer to the holiday of 1 March as [[Baba Marta]] (Баба Марта), meaning ''Grandmother March''. It preserves an ancient pagan tradition, possibly celebrating the [[Martius (month)|old Roman new Year]], beginning on 1 March, identical with Romanian [[Mărțișor]]. Pagan customs found their way to the Christian holidays. The ancient ritual of [[kukeri]] (кукери), similar to Slovenian [[Kurentovanje]], [[Busójárás]] and [[Halloween]], is performed by costumed men in different times of the year and after Easter. This seeks to scare away evil spirits and bring good harvest and health to the community. Goat is symbolized, that was left from the Thracian cult of [[Dionysian Mysteries]]. The ritual consists of dancing, jumping, shouting and collect gifts from the houses in an attempt to banish all evil from the village. The adornments on the costumes vary from one region to another. The [[Thracian Heros]] remains in the image of [[Saint George]], at whose feast the agriculture is celebrated, a lamb is traditionally eaten, accomplished with ritual bathing. [[Tryphon, Respicius, and Nympha|Saint Tryphon]]'s fertility and wine is attributed a Thracian origin, considered to preserve the cult to [[Sabazius]] as the Kukeri.<ref>Колева Т. А. Болгары // Календарные обычаи и обряды в странах зарубежной Европы. Конец XIX — начало XX в. Весенние праздники. — М.: Наука, 1977. — С. 274–295. — 360 с.</ref> This is followed in February by Pokladi, a tradition of setting massively large fire and jump over as at the [[Kupala Night]] and a competition between couples to eat an egg on a thread is held. Another characteristic custom called [[nestinarstvo]] (нестинарство), or ''firedancing'', distinguishes the [[Strandzha]] region, as well as [[Dog spinning]]. The authentic nestinarstvo with states of [[trance]] is only preserved in the village [[Balgari]]. This ancient custom involves dancing into fire or over live embers. Women dance into the fire with their bare feet without suffering any injury or pain.
 
[[Early Slavs|Slavic]] pagan customs are preserved in Bulgarian Christian holidays. The [[Miladinov brothers]] and foreign authors noticed that even pagan prayers are preserved quoting plenty of Slavic pagan rite songs and tales remained in Bulgarians, including [[Macedonians (Bulgarians)|Macedonians]] and [[Pomaks]], mainly dedicated to the divine nymphs [[Samodiva (mythology)|samovili]] and [[peperuna]] for the feasts [[survakane|surva]], [[Saint George's Day]], [[Koleda]], etc. with evidence of toponymy throughout the regional groups linking directly to the deities [[Svarog]], [[Perun]], [[Hors]] and [[Veles (god)|Veles]], while the regional group Hartsoi derive their name from god Hors.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://tangrabg.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/veda_slovena.pdf |title=?? |website=Tangrabg.files.wordpress.com |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326094747/https://tangrabg.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/veda_slovena.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto">{{cite web |url=http://bkks.org/files/bnpesni.pdf |title=?? |website=Bkks.org |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=2 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170702182601/http://bkks.org/files/bnpesni.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Анчо Калоянов. СТАРОБЪЛГАРСКОТО ЕЗИЧЕСТВО. LiterNet, 06. 11. 2002. {{ISBN|954-304-009-5}}</ref> Songs dedicated to the Thracian divinity [[Orpheus]] were found in Pomaks, who is said to marry the samovili. The old Bulgarian name of the [[Presentation of Jesus at the Temple]] was ''Gromnitsa'' and ''Perunov den'' dedicated to the supreme Slavic thunder god Perun. In the mix of Christian and pagan patrons of thunder, at [[Saint Elijah]]'s feast day [[Ognyena Maria]] is worshiped, the Slavic goddesses assisting Perun that took a substitutional dual position of the Christian Mother of God. The custom for rain begging [[Peperuna]] is derived from the wife of Perun and the god of the rain [[Dodola]], this was described by a 1792 Bulgarian book as a continued worship of Perun at times of absence of rain with a ritual performed by a boy or a girl dressed like Perun.<ref>История во кратце о болгарском народе словенском</ref> Similar rain begging is called [[German (mythology)|German]]. In case of continuous lack of rain, a custom of driving out the [[zmey]] from the area is performed. In the dualistic Slavic belief the zmey may be both good [[tutelary spirit]] and evil, in which case is considered not local and good, but evil and trying to inflict harm and drought.<ref name=ivanichka/> Saint [[Jeremiah]]'s feast is of the snakes and the reptiles, there is a tradition of jumping over fire. At the [[Rusalka#Rusalka week|Rusalka week]] the girls don't go outside to prevent themselves from diseases and harm that the dead forces [[Nav (Slavic folklore)|Rusalii]] can cause.<ref name=ivanichka/> This remained the holiday of the samovili. The men performing the custom are also called Rusalii, they don't let anybody pass through between them, don't talk with each other except for the evening, avoid water, if someone lacks behind a member swoops the sword over the lacker's head to prevent him from evil spirits.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bgnow.eu/news.php?cat=2&cp=0&newsid=27862 |title=Русалии – древните български обичаи по Коледа |website=Bgnow.eu |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702205027/http://www.bgnow.eu/news.php?cat=2&cp=0&newsid=27862 |url-status=live }}</ref> If the group encounter on their way a well, dry tree, old cemeteries, crossroads, they go round them three times. Before leaving rusalii say goodbye to their relatives as if they went to war, which is not surprising because some of them are killed. When two rusalii groups met there was a fight to the death in which the dead were buried in special "rusaliyski cemetery." Each year there are holidays in honour of wolves and mouses. A relief for the scared believers is celebrated at the [[Beheading of St. John the Baptist]], when according to Bulgarian belief all the [[List of Slavic mythological figures|mythical figure]]s go back to their caves in a mythical village in the middle of nowhere Zmeykovo of the zmey king, along with the [[rusalki]], samodivi, and return at [[Annunciation]].<ref name=ivanichka>{{cite web |url=http://mling.ru/etnolingvistika/bg/muth_bg.pdf |title=?? |website=Mling.ru |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326094737/http://mling.ru/etnolingvistika/bg/muth_bg.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> According to other beliefs the danger peaks at the so-called few days around the New Year Eve "Dirty Days", this time starts at [[Koleda]], which merged with [[Christmas]], when groups of kids [[koledari]] visit houses, singing carols and receiving a gift at parting. It is believed that no man can go in Zmeyovo and only the magpie knows the location of this place. At many of the holidays a sexual taboo is said to be practiced to prevent conceiving a vampire or werewolf and not to work, not to go to [[Vechornytsi|Sedenki]] or go out. [[Need-fire|Live-fire]] is set in case of epidemics.<ref name=ivanichka/> [[Babinden]] for example is rooted in the mother-goddess. On the day of [[St. Vlas]], the tradition of a "wooly" god Veles established itself, a god who is considered to be a protector of shepherds, and bread is given to the livestock on that day.<ref name=ivanichka/> The ancient Slavic custom to marry died people occurred in Bulgarian society.<ref name=ivanichka/> [[Survakane]] is performed each new year with a decorated stick by children, who hit adults on the back for health at the New Year Eve, usually in exchange of money. In the [[Chech]] region there is a custom forbidding "touching the land", i.e. construction and agriculture, at the equinox on 25 March and the same custom is found in Belarusian [[Volhynia]] and [[Polesia]].<ref name=ivanichka/>

Bulgarian mythology and fairy tales are mainly about forest figures, such as the dragon zmey, the nymphs samovili (samodivi), the witch veshtitsa. They are usually harmful and devastating, but can also help the people. The samovili are said to live in beeches and sycamores the, which are therefore considered holy and not permitted burning.<ref name=ivanichka/> Samovili, although believed to be masters of everything between the sky and the earth, "run away" from fraxinus, garlic, dew and walnut.<ref name=ivanichka/> Walnut remained in Christianity to be used in prayers to "see" the dead in Spirits Day.<ref name=ivanichka/> [[Dictamnus]] is believed to be their favourite herb, which is intoxicating. The samovili are spirits in Bulgarian beliefs are the diseases themselves and punish people, kidnap shepherds, make blind the people or drown them and are in white colored dress, they are in odd numbers, which suggest they are ones of the "dead".<ref name=ivanichka/> Epic heroes as [[Prince Marko]] are believed to be descended from the samodivi. The elm is believed to scare the evil forces. Sacral trees in Bulgarian beliefs are beeches and oaks.<ref name=ivanichka/> Hawthorn is believed to expel all evil forces and is applied to cure suspected vampires. The tradition forbids killing of sacred animals – deer, while it is hold a belief the samodivi runaway from horse. The alleged as "unclean" animals resembling the devil such as the goat are, however, exempted from being eaten as the holy ones. The zmey is [[transhuman]] and can turn "into" animals, plants and items, he is also "responsible" for diseases, madness and missing women.<ref name=ivanichka/> The female version of the Slavic zmey is [[Lamia]] and [[Ala (demon)|Ala]] is another version. The girls who practiced [[Lazarice|Lazaruvane]] and other rituals "could not" be kidnapped by the zmey. The main enemy of the Sun is the zmey, which tries to eat the Sun, which scene is preserved in church art.<ref name=ivanichka/> The sun is painted one eyed as recorded by beliefs Perun stabbed one of the sun's eyes to save the world from overheating.<ref name=ivanichka/> The [[Vampire hunter|born on Saturday]] are thought as having supernatural powers, those born at the wolves' holidays and a number of people are alleged as [[werewolf|varkolaks]] and vampires.<ref name=ivanichka/> The most spread Bulgarian view of the vampire was that of a rolling bulbous balloon of blood derived from the Slavic term ''pir'' "drink".<ref name=ivanichka/> Rusalka is believed to be a variety of the samodivi and [[Nav (Slavic folklore)|Nav]], but the latter are considered little fairies.<ref name=ivanichka/> The Thursdays remained feasts of Perun in Bulgarian beliefs.<ref name=ivanichka/> The wind and the hot steam of the bread is believed to be the souls of the dead.<ref name=ivanichka/> From Easter to Feast of the Ascension it is believed that the death are in the flowers and the animals. [[Marzanna|Mora]] in Bulgarian beliefs is a black hairy evil spirit with four firing eyes associated with nightmares when causing someone to scream, similarly to [[Kikimora]]. Polunoshtnitsa and [[Poludnica]] are believed to be evil spirits causing death, while to [[Leshy|Lesnik]], [[Domovoy|Domovnik]] and [[Vodyanoy|Vodnik]] a dualistic nature is attributed.<ref name=ivanichka/> Thanks to the [[Volkhv|Vlshebnik]], a man of the community, a magician and a priest, communication with the "other" world was held.<ref name=ivanichka/> Torbalan is the [[Sack Man]] used to scare children, along with [[Baba Yaga]], who is a witch in her Bulgarian version.<ref name=ivanichka/>

[[Kuma Lisa]] and [[Hitar Petar]] are the tricky fox and villager from the fairy tales, the tricked antagonist is often [[Nasreddin Hoca]], whereas [[Bay Ganyo]] is a ridiculed Bulgarian villager. Ivancho and Mariika are the protagonists of the jokes.

Despite eastern Ottoman influence is obvious in areas such as cuisine and music, Bulgarian folk beliefs and mythology seem to lack analogies with [[Turkic mythology]], [[Tengriism|paganism]] and any non-European folk beliefs,<ref name=ivanichka/> sо in pre-Christian times the ancient Bulgars were much inferior to the Slavs in the ethnogenesis and culture that resulted in modern Bulgarians. The Slavic language was officialized at the same time with Christianity, so Slavic paganism has never been a state religion of Bulgaria or more influential than [[Tengriism]].  Most of Bulgarian land lack any pagan archeology left from the Bulgars, despite early Christianization and that during most of the pagan period medieval Bulgarian borders spread significantly only in today's northern Bulgaria. Although legacy indicating ancient [[Bulgars|Bulgar]] culture is at most virtually absent in modern Bulgarian culture, some authors claim there is a similarity between the dress and customs of the [[Chuvashes]], who descend from the [[Volga Bulgars]], and the Bulgarian ethnographic group ''Kapantsi'' from [[Targovishte Province]] and [[Razgrad Province]], among whom the claim that they are direct descendants of [[Asparuh]]'s Bulgars is popular,<ref>Следи от бита и езика на прабългарите в нашата народна култура, Иван Коев, София, 1971.</ref><ref name="max">{{cite book|last1=MacDermott|first1=Mercia|title=Bulgarian Folk Customs|publisher=Jessica Kingsley Publishers|isbn=9781853024856|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh4IE6toGJMC&pg=PA22|pages=41, 44|quote=The so-called Kapantsi - an ethnographic group living mainly in the Razgrad and Turgovishte, area of north-east Bulgaria - are believed to be descendants of Asparuh's Bulgars who have maintained at least something of their original heritage...the traditional costumes of Bulgaria are derived mainly from the ancient Slav costumes...Women's costumes fall into four main categories: one-apron, two-apron, sukman and saya. Like men's costumes, these are not intrinsically separate types, but have evolved from the original chemise and apron worn by the early Slavs...Directly descended with little mutation from the dress of the ancient Slavs, the one-apron ...|date=1998-01-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.promacedonia.org/da/da_4_3.htm |title=Д. Ангелов, Образуване на българската народност – 4.3 |website=Promacedonia.org |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=19 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200219025030/http://www.promacedonia.org/da/da_4_3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> but Slavic elements are found among them.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ekip7.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17519 |title=Ekip7 Разград – Коренните жители на Разград и района – българи, ама не какви да е, а капанци! |website=Ekip7.bg |date=2015-09-14 |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=12 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171012095815/http://www.ekip7.bg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=17519 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Folk dress and music===
[[File:Sv%C4%9Bt_knihy_-_bulharsk%C3%BD_folklorn%C3%AD_soubor_135.JPG|thumb|Bulgarian folk dancers in a national costume with embroidery on the penultimate row of the aprons showing the most spread Slavic cryptogram [[Bur]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rusorn.ru/%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%B8-%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82/|title=Значение узоров и орнаментов – Русские орнаменты и узоры|date=21 November 2013|trans-title=The meaning of patterns and ornaments|website=Russian ornaments and patterns|access-date=20 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131121002630/http://rusorn.ru/%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B5-%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8-%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2-%D0%B8-%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%82/|archive-date=21 November 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> with a cross inside the rhombus representing the sun and spirals indicating rain,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://etnoxata.com.ua/ru/statti-ru/ru-traditsiji/ru-simvoli-v-ornamentah-starodavnih-slovjan/ |title=Символы в орнаментах древних славян |website=Etnoxata.com.ua |date=2015-01-25 |access-date=2016-11-22 |archive-date=26 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326094125/http://etnoxata.com.ua/ru/statti-ru/ru-traditsiji/ru-simvoli-v-ornamentah-starodavnih-slovjan/ |url-status=live }}</ref> which is similarly represented as the ''Rising Sun''<ref>В. В. Якжик, Государственный флаг Республики Беларусь, w: Рекомендации по использованию государственной символики в учреждениях образования, page 3.</ref> [[:File:Flag of Belarus (ornaments).svg|decorative pattern]] of the [[Flag of Belarus]]. Similar carpet patterns appear on the [[Flag of Turkmenistan]] ultimately derived from ancient [[Persian carpet|Persia]].]]
Bulgarian folk costumes feature long white robes, usually with red embrdoiery and ornaments derived from the Slavic [[Rushnyk|Rachenik]]. 
The costume is considered to be mainly derived from the dress of the [[ancient Slavs]], the female dress with the overgarments joined at the shoulders that evolved from [[Sarafan]] and all the types of [[Sukmana|sukman]], saya and [[apron]]s fasten at the waist are said to be directly descended from the ancient Slavs only with negligible mutation.<ref name="max"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mellish|first1=Liz|title=Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion Vol 9: East Europe, Russia, and the Caucasus|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=9781847883988|page=PART 5: Southeast Europe, Bulgaria: Ethnic Dress|quote=Bulgarian women's dress include overgarments that are joined at the shoulders and are considered to have evolved from the sarafan. (the pinafore dress typically worn by women of various Slav nations). This type of garment includes the soukman and the saya and aprons that fasten at the waist that are also attributed to a Slavic origin.|title-link=Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion|year=2010}}</ref> The women's head-dress, which turned to be a must for the Bulgarian costume is a decoration with flowers optionally on a headband, that distinguishes all the Balto-Slavic peoples and is not found in western cultures. The male dress is of likewise origin, usually [[Riza]] "robe",  poyas "belt", poturi "full-bottomed breeches" typical for the Slavs and often a [[Opanak|tsarvul]] and [[kalpak]] for shoes and jacket. Among the most similar relatives of the latter for example is [[Ukrainian Culture#Jewelry|Ukrainian]] hutsul, but the kalpak is attributed to Ottoman influence. The male skirt [[fustanella]] appears on the dress only of the [[Macedonian Bulgarians]] and is of indigenous Balkan origin or influence. In some dress of [[Thrace]] the symbol of the snake as in medieval tombs is found and is considered a Thracian cultural legacy and belief.<ref name=ivanichka/>

Folk songs are most often about the nymphs from Bulgarian and [[West Slavs|West Slavic]] mythology ([[Samodiva (mythology)|samovili]]) and the epic heroes (yunaks).<ref name="auto"/> Instruments [[Gadulka]], [[Gusle|Gusla]], [[Duduk]], [[gaida]] [[Dvoyanka]] are analogous to other Slavic [[gudok]], [[Pipe (instrument)|dudka]] and [[Dvodentsivka]]. [[Kaval]] is common in the Balkans and Turkey and is akin to Arab [[Kawala]], as well as Tapan, Goblet Drum, [[Zurna]]. The most spread dance is a [[circle dance]] called [[horo (dance)|horo]] and [[khorovod]]. Songs are generally loud. Recent eastern influences from the genre music [[chalga]] and [[turbo-folk]] even brought a prestige for the masculine voices of females.

[[Valya Balkanska]] is a folk singer thanks to whom the [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian speech]] in her song "[[Izlel ye Delyo Haydutin]]" will be played in the [[Outer space]] for at least 60,000 years more as part of the [[Voyager Golden Record]] selection of music included in the two Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977.

===Sport===
{{main|Sport in Bulgaria}}{{multiple image|align=left
|image1 = Hristo stoichkov-2010 (crop).jpg|width1=92|caption1= [[Hristo Stoichkov]], awarded the [[Ballon d'Or]] and regarded as one of the best footballers by Barcelona.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/club/historia/jugadors_de_llegenda/stoichkov.html |title=HRISTO STOICHKOV &#124; FCBarcelona.cat |publisher=Fcbarcelona.com |access-date=2015-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130103000543/http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/club/historia/jugadors_de_llegenda/stoichkov.html |archive-date=3 January 2013 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>
|image2 = Veselin Topalov Sofia Airport 24.10.2005.pic-01.jpg|width2=121|caption2=[[Veselin Topalov]], the 21st [[World Chess Champion]].
|image3 = |width3=130|caption3=[[André the Giant|André Roussimoff]], the most famous [[World Wrestling Federation|WWF]] wrestler.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=00XoU40tLO8C&pg=PA66 |title=Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers |author1=Dave Meltzer |author2=Bret Hart |date= 2004-01-01|publisher=Sports Publishing LLC |access-date=2016-11-22|isbn=9781582618173}}</ref>
}}
As for most European peoples, [[association football|football]] became by far the most popular sport for the Bulgarians. [[Hristo Stoichkov]] was one of the best football (soccer) players in the second half of the 20th century, having played with the national team and [[FC Barcelona]]. He received a number of awards and was the joint top scorer at the [[1994 World Cup]]. [[Dimitar Berbatov]], formerly in [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]], [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur]], [[Bayer 04 Leverkusen|Bayer Leverkusen]] and others, the national team and two domestic clubs, is still the most popular Bulgarian football player of the 21st century.

In the beginning of the 20th century Bulgaria was famous for two of the best wrestlers in the world – [[Dan Kolov]] and [[Nikola Petroff]]. [[Stefka Kostadinova]] is the best female [[high jump]]er, still holding the world record from 1987, one of the oldest unbroken world records for all kind of athletics. [[Ivet Lalova]] along with [[Irina Privalova]] is currently the fastest white woman at [[100 metres]]. [[Kotoōshū Katsunori|Kaloyan Mahlyanov]] has been the first European sumo wrestler to win the Emperor's Cup in Japan. Veselin Topalov won the 2005 [[World Chess Championship]]. He was ranked No. 1 in the world from April 2006 to January 2007, and had the second highest Elo rating of all time (2813). He regained the world No. 1 ranking again in October 2008.

===Symbols===
The national symbols of the Bulgarians are the [[Flag of Bulgaria|Flag]], the [[Coat of arms of Bulgaria|Coat of Arms]], the [[National anthem of Bulgaria|National anthem]] and the [[National Guards Unit of Bulgaria|National Guard]], as well other unofficial symbols such as the [[Samara flag]].

The national flag of Bulgaria is a rectangle with three colours: white, green, and red, positioned horizontally top to bottom. The colour fields are of same form and equal size. It is generally known that the white represents – the purity, the green – the forest and nature and the red – the blood of the people, referencing the strong bond of the nation through all the wars and revolutions that have shaken the country in the past.
The [[Coat of arms of Bulgaria]] is a state symbol of the sovereignty and independence of the Bulgarian people and state. It represents a crowned rampant golden lion on a dark red background with the shape of a shield. Above the shield there is a crown modeled after the crowns of the emperors of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], with five crosses and an additional cross on top. Two crowned rampant golden lions hold the shield from both sides, facing it. They stand upon two crossed oak branches with acorns, which symbolize the power and the longevity of the Bulgarian state. Under the shield, there is a white band lined with the three national colours. The band is placed across the ends of the branches and the phrase "Unity Makes Strength" is inscribed on it.

Both the Bulgarian flag and the Coat of Arms are also used as symbols of various Bulgarian organisations, political parties and institutions.

The horse of the [[Madara Rider]] is preserved on the back of the Bulgarian [[stotinka]].

==Maps==
<gallery>
File:VolkBalk-1908.jpg|Map of A. Scobel, [[Andrees Allgemeiner Handatlas]], 1908
File:The Balkan Peninsula, Distribution of Races. EB 1911.png|Distribution of the Balkan peoples in 1911, [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]
File:Ethnicturkey1911.jpg|Ethnic groups in the Balkans and Asia Minor by [[William R. Shepherd]], 1911
File:Ethnic map (1914).jpg|Distribution of European peoples in 1914 according to L. Ravenstein
Carte Ethnographique de L'Europe.jpg|Swiss ethnographic map of Europe published in 1918 by [[Juozas Gabrys]]
File:Mother language in 1965 Turkey census - Pomak.png|Percentage of [[Pomak language|Pomak]]s by first language according to the 1965 Census excluding [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]
File:Odeska2001bulgarians.PNG|Distribution of Bulgarians in [[Odesa Oblast]], Ukraine according to the 2001 census
File:Zaporizka2001bolgarian.PNG|Distribution of Bulgarians by first language in [[Zaporizhzhia Oblast]], Ukraine according to the 2001 census
File:Ethnic composition of Bulgaria, 2011.PNG|Distribution of predominant ethnic groups in Bulgaria according to the 2011 census
File:Bulgari_Romania_(2002).png|Distribution of Bulgarians in Romania according to the 2002 census
File:Ponderea bulgarilor în Republica Moldova la nivel de comune.jpg|Distribution of Bulgarians in Moldova according to the 2004 census
</gallery>

==Historiography==
{{See also|List of Slavic studies journals}}

With the formation of the Bulgarian ethnicity in the mid-10th century,<ref>Crampton, R. J. A (2005) Concise History of Bulgaria (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press, p. 15, {{ISBN|978-0-521-61637-9}}.</ref><ref>Fine, John Van Antwerp (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. University of Michigan Press. p. 68, {{ISBN|978-0472081493}}.</ref> the Byzantines usually called the Bulgarians ''Moesi'', and their lands, ''Moesia''.<ref>Tsvetelin Stepanov (2019) Waiting for the End of the World: European Dimensions, 950–1200, BRILL, p. 222, {{ISBN|9004409939}}.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Bulgaria}}
*[[List of Bulgarians]]
*[[Balkan–Danubian culture]]
*[[Macedonian Bulgarians]]
*[[Macedonians (ethnic group)]]
*[[Thracian Bulgarians]]

==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="dnevnik.bg">{{cite web
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| url = http://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/10/04/794490_bulgarite_v_chujbina_sa_mejdu_3_i_4_mln_dushi_zaiavi
| title = Chairman of Bulgaria's State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad – 3–4 million Bulgarians abroad in 2009
| language = bg
| access-date = 2011-03-07
| archive-date = 24 December 2019
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191224025714/https://www.dnevnik.bg/bulgaria/2009/10/04/794490_bulgarite_v_chujbina_sa_mejdu_3_i_4_mln_dushi_zaiavi/
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<ref name="maritsa.com">
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| archive-date = 2011-07-14}}</ref>

<ref name=SABA>{{cite web
|url=http://www.aba.government.bg/?show=38&nid=997
|title=Bulgaria's State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad – Study about the number of Bulgarian immigrants as of 03.2011
|language=bg
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|access-date=2016-11-22
|archive-date=11 January 2019
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190111012931/http://www.aba.government.bg/?show=38
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<ref name="DictEastEur">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dt2TXexiKTgC&q=political+and+economic+dictionary+of+Eastern+Europe+bulgarians&pg=PA96|title=Political and economic dictionary of Eastern Europe|first1=Alan John|last1=Day|first2=Roger|last2=East|first3=Richard|last3=Thomas|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|page=96|access-date=2011-11-13|isbn=9780203403747|archive-date=28 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928201736/https://books.google.com/books?id=dt2TXexiKTgC&q=political+and+economic+dictionary+of+Eastern+Europe+bulgarians&pg=PA96|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name="Hupchick, Dennis P. 2004">Hupchick, Dennis P. ''The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism.'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. {{ISBN|1-4039-6417-3}}</ref>
<ref name= Runciman>[[Steven Runciman|Runciman, Steven]]. 1930. [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/index.html A history of the First Bulgarian Empire] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110611224750/http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/index.html |date=11 June 2011 }}. London: G. Bell & Sons.: [http://www.kroraina.com/knigi/en/sr/sr_1_1.htm §I.1] </ref>
<ref name="Ottoman rule">{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84090/Bulgaria/42728/Ottoman-rule|title=Bulgaria – Ottoman rule|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica Online|access-date=21 December 2011|quote=With the capture of a rump Bulgarian kingdom centred at Bdin (Vidin) in 1396, the last remnant of Bulgarian independence disappeared. ... The Bulgarian nobility was destroyed—its members either perished, fled, or accepted Islam and Turkicization—and the peasantry was enserfed to Turkish masters.|archive-date=2 January 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120102035127/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/84090/Bulgaria/42728/Ottoman-rule|url-status=live}}</ref>
<ref name=experts>{{cite web
|url=http://www.dnes.bg/stranata/2011/07/27/eksperti-po-demografiia-osporiha-prebroiavaneto.125031
|title=Experts for Census 2011
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|archive-date=10 January 2021
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210110081243/https://www.dnes.bg/stranata/2011/07/27/eksperti-po-demografiia-osporiha-prebroiavaneto.125031
|url-status=live
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<ref name=2001census>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nsi.bg/Census/Ethnos.htm
|title=Bulgarian 2001 census
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==Sources==
* {{Cite journal|last=Komatina|first=Predrag|title=The Slavs of the mid-Danube basin and the Bulgarian expansion in the first half of the 9th century|journal=Зборник радова Византолошког института|year=2010|volume=47|pages=55–82|url=http://www.doiserbia.nb.rs/img/doi/0584-9888/2010/0584-98881047055K.pdf}}
* {{Cite book|last=Obolensky|first=Dimitri|author-link=Dimitri Obolensky|title=The Byzantine Commonwealth: Eastern Europe, 500–1453|year=1974|orig-year=1971|location=London|publisher=Cardinal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RlBoAAAAMAAJ|isbn=9780351176449}}
* {{Cite book|last=Ostrogorsky|first=George|author-link=George Ostrogorsky|year=1956|title=History of the Byzantine State|location=Oxford|publisher=Basil Blackwell|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Bulgarians}}

{{Bulgaria topics}}
{{Slavic ethnic groups}}

{{Authority control}}

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