Black Sea Coastal Population

Abstract

The states bordering the Black Sea are Romania, Ukraine, Russian Federation, Georgia, Turkey and Bulgaria. The Black Sea regions have a permanent population of roughly 17.5 million inhabitants, to which are added 6–8 million tourists per year. This population is very unevenly distributed in the riparian states. The Black Sea catchment area has registered a total number of 63 harbors, as follows: Romania: 18 harbors (including rivers), Ukraine: 18, Bulgaria: 2, Moldova: 1, Turkey: 24 (Black and Marmara Sea) (Golumbeanu and Nicolaev in Study on integrated coastal zone management. Ex Ponto Publishing House Constanta, 2015). The important harbors on the Black Sea coast are: Constanta and Sulina (Romania), Odessa, Mariupol (Ukraine), Tuapse, Poti and Batumi (Georgia), Samsun and Istanbul (Turkey), Burgas and Varna (Bulgaria). In general tourism along the Black Sea coastal zones is rather well developed in Bulgaria, Romania and Ukraine. Besides Istanbul, Odessa and Varna are the largest cities within the Black Sea region, with a high capacity to attract tourists.