DOBRICH - Geography and history
Bordering the Black Sea
Dobrich region is situated in Northeastern Bulgaria and borders the regions of Silistra, Shumen and Varna. To the east, there is the Black Sea and to the north the state frontier with Romania. Dobrich covers an area is 4 720 km2, representing 4.3% of the national territory. The region has a population of 210 635 inhabitants or 2.7% of the national total (2002 data), making it a medium-sized region in terms of population.
The city of Dobrich, which today is the main regional centre, has existed since the 15th century, when it developed as a busy trade and handicraft centre. The majority of the area belonged to Romania from 1913 till 1940. Today, in terms of its administrative set up, the region comprises 8 municipalities, with a total of 215 settlements. The proportion of the population classified as urban is 63.9%, which is below the national average.
The relief varies between gently rolling hills and completely flat areas and extends across parts of the Ludogorie area and the Dobrudja Plateau. Agriculture is the main occupation in the surrounding countryside.
There are deposits of oil at Tyulenovo and the region also boasts manganese ore, black coal (not exploited) and building materials, as well as mineral water springs. The climate is moderately continental with some maritime influence along the coastline to moderate temperatures. The rivers, such as the Batovska and Suha, are short and shallow. There are several lakes near the Black Sea, including Lake Shablansko and Lake Durankulashko.
Favourable agrarian resources
In this part of the country there are large tracts of arable land and the right climatic conditions for more accelerated agro-economic development. Leases are now being granted on the many large plots of land. Furthermore, interest has already been expressed from abroad to launch cereal production in the region and considerable areas have by now been leased.
Despite the rich potential from the holiday resorts along the Black Sea, such as Albena which is one of the biggest coastal resorts in Bulgaria, the opportunities for the development of holiday and recreation facilities have not yet been fully exploited.
The grave water shortage is a very acute problem here, affecting not only drinking water but also supplies of water for irrigation. As a result of water having to be pumped from extremely deep boreholes, the price per cubic metre of water is the highest in the country. The region has no energy base of its own, since the available deposits of black coal are not exploited because the great depth at which the coal seams to lie makes it uneconomic to mine them.
Processes of erosion along the sea coast are another severe problem, requiring considerable investment for reinforcement of embankments along the shore.
Well-developed grain production
With 44.6 inhabitants per km2 (2002 data), the average population density is largely below the Bulgarian average. The natural population growth was negative in 2002, although the birth rate (8.3 per thousand in 2002) was in line with the national average and the death rate (13.8 per thousand) is slightly below the national average.
The relative share of the active population, 44.2% in 2002, is below the national average, and furthermore a downward trend has been noted. The labour force of the region accounts for 2.4% of the persons employed nationally and the unemployment rate, at 30.0%, is above average (2002 data).
Dobrich Region has an industrial-agrarian economy. Industrial production focuses on the food and beverages sector, machine tool engineering and metal processing, the textile industry, and shoe-making.
Arable land accounts for 67.7% of the region's total area (in 2002), and only 3% of it require irrigation. The main crop grown locally is grain (wheat), of which the region is the largest producer in Bulgaria. Cattle numbers are above average. The process of restoring land to its owners prior to collectivisation has been completed.
There are 807 km of roads here, giving a density of 171 km per 1 000 km2 (in 2002). The region is traversed by a number of main roads, including the Ruse-Dobrich-Varna route and the panoramic Constantsa-Varna-Bourgas-Istanbul highway. Part of the railway line linking Sofia with Medgidia (in Romania) also crosses the region. The port of Balchik is used for freight and passenger transportation, while the port of Kavarna is only a fishing port. A natural-gas pipeline also runs through here.
All settlements in the region are connected to the national electricity system and to a water supply. There are two higher educational establishments here - a medical college and a faculty of the University of Shumen, as well as a theatre and museums. The Research Institute on Wheat and Sunflowers is in the city of General Toshevo.
At the end of 2002, the number of telephone posts (including the installed direct, party-line and supplementary telephone apparatus to the settlements' telephone exchanges) was 72 781 of which 85% for households.
Medical services are provided by one regional and several district hospitals, with on average 8.4 hospital beds per 1 000 inhabitants. At the end of 2002, the region counted 647 physicians, 121 dentists and 1 022 personnel with intermediate level of medical education and personnel graduated in medical colleges with level "specialist".
During the school year 2002/2003, there were 602 students and 130 teachers in the colleges of the district.
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