On April 3, 1879, at the suggestion of Prof. Marin Drinov, co-founder of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, due to the geographic location and the potential for socio-economic and cultural growth Sofia was declared the capital of Bulgaria.
Today, 139 years later, Sofia is already a symbolic capital of the European Union on the occasion of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
The population of the Bulgarian capital has increased from 20 541 by the end of 1880 (according to data from the first population census in Bulgaria) to 1 323 637 as of December 31, 2016. Some more interesting statistical data can be found in the new infographic of the National Statistical Institute.
