In 1972 thirteen daily newspapers were published, eight of which were printed in Sofia. _Rabotnichesko Delo_ was a descendant of the first workers' newspaper, which was begun in 1897. It led both in importance and circulation, was the primary organ of the BKP, and set the tone for all other newspapers in the country. In 1950 it had a daily circulation of 364,500 copies, and by 1960 its circulation had risen to 567,360. In 1972 this newspaper had a total circulation of approximately 650,000 copies. The second most important daily newspaper published in Sofia was the _Otechestven Front_, the organ of the government. This publication was initiated as an underground newspaper in 1942. As of 1972 it claimed a daily circulation of 247,000. The other Sofia dailies and their circulations were: _Zemedelsko Zname_, 168,000; _Narodna Mladez_, the newspaper for youth, 225,000; _Trud_, the organ of the trade unions, 200,000; _Narodna Armiya_, an organ of the Ministry of National Defense, 50,000; _Vecherni Novini_, founded in 1951, an evening newspaper, 40,000; and _Kooperativno Selo_, the organ of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry, 230,000. The major provincial dailies were _Otechestven Glas_ (in Plovdiv), _Narodno Delo_ (in Varna), _Chernomorski Front_ (in Burgas), _Dunavska Pravda_ (in Ruse), and _Pirinsklo Delo_ (in Blagoevgrad) (see table 11). _Table 11. Bulgaria, Circulation of Newspapers and Periodicals, Selected Years, 1939-71_ -----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- | 1939 | 1948 | 1960 | 1971 -----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- _Newspapers_: | | | | Annual circulation* | 130,297 | 345,905 | 602,813 | 837,494 Annual circulation | | | | per capita | 20.7 | 48.5 | 76.6 | 98.1 _Periodicals_: | | | | Number | 393 | 246 | 151 | 963 Annual circulation* | 11,208 | 10,421 | 20,923 | 48,605 Average annual | | | | issues per capita | 1.8 | 1.5 | 2.7 | 5.7 -----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- * In thousands. Periodicals By 1971 there were 963 periodicals with an annual circulation of 48.6 million, roughly tripling the pre-World War II figures. Periodicals were an extremely popular form of reading material.