Provinces of Bulgaria

Provinces of Bulgaria
Oбласти на България (Bulgarian)
Provinces of Bulgaria; Oбласти на България (Bulgarian)
Category	Unitary state
Location	Republic of Bulgaria
Number	28 (as of 1999)
Populations	101,018 (Vidin) – 1,291,591 (Sofia City)
Areas	1,348.90 km2 (520.81 sq mi) (Sofia City)– 7,748.07 km2 (2,991.55 sq mi) (Burgas)
Government	Province government, National government ;
Subdivisions	Municipality ;

Last updated May 21, 2023

The provinces of Bulgaria (Bulgarian : области на България, romanized: oblasti na Bǎlgariya) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the country.

Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces (Bulgarian: области – oblasti; singular: област – oblast ; also translated as "regions") which correspond approximately to the 28 districts (in Bulgarian: окръг – okrǎg , plural: окръзи – okrǎzi), that existed before 1987.

The provinces are further subdivided into 265 municipalities (singular: община – obshtina , plural: общини – obshtini).

Sofia – the capital city of Bulgaria and the largest settlement in the country – is the administrative centre of both Sofia Province and Sofia City Province (Sofia-grad). The capital is included (together with three other cities plus 34 villages) in Sofia Capital Municipality (over 90% of whose population lives in Sofia), which is the sole municipality comprising Sofia City province.

Terminology

The provinces do not have official names – legally (in the President's decree on their constitution^{[ clarification needed ]}), they are not named but only described as "oblast with administrative centre [Noun]" – together with a list of the constituting municipalities. In Bulgaria they are usually called "[Adjective] Oblast"; occasionally they are referred to as "Oblast [Noun]" and rarely as "oblast with administrative centre [Noun]".

The Bulgarian term "област" (oblast) is preferably translated into English as "province", in order to avoid disambiguation and distinguish from the former unit called "окръг" (okrag, translated as "district") and the term "регион" (always translated as "region"). At any rate, "district" and "region" are sometimes still used to name these contemporary 28 units.

"region": "28 regions (en) / région (fr) / oblast (bg)" – in ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-3 (2011-12-13, corrected 2011-12-15)
"district": "The territory of the South Central Region encompasses five districts – Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Haskovo, and Kyrdzhali." – in a website of the European Commission.^[1]

Provinces

Province	Population (Census 2001)^[2]^[3]	Population (Census 2011)^[2]^[3]	Population growth (2001/2011)^[2]	Land area (km²)	Population density (/km²)	Municipalities	Planning Region
Blagoevgrad	341,173	323,552	−5.2%	6,449.47	50.17	14	South Western
Burgas	423,547	415,817	−1.8%	7,748.07	54.58	13	South Eastern
Dobrich	215,217	189,677	−11.9%	4,719.71	40.36	8	North Eastern
Gabrovo	144,125	122,702	−14.9%	2,023.01	59.77	4	North Central
Haskovo	277,478	246,238	−11.3%	5,533.29	61.06	11	South Central
Kardzhali	164,019	152,808	−6.8%	3,209.11	37.90	7	South Central
Kyustendil	162,534	136,686	−15.9%	3,051.52	45.16	9	South Western
Lovech	169,951	141,422	−16.8%	4,128.76	34.21	8	North Western
Montana	182,258	148,098	−18.7%	3,635.38	41.20	11	North Western
Pazardzhik	310,723	275,548	−11.3%	4,456.92	62.72	12	South Central
Pernik	149,832	133,530	−10.9%	2,394.22	56.18	6	South Western
Pleven	311,985	269,752	−13.5%	4,653.32	63.98	11	North Western
Plovdiv	715,816	683,027	−4.6%	5,972.89	114.35	18	South Central
Razgrad	152,417	125,190	−17.9%	2,639.74	47.28	7	North Central
Ruse	266,157	235,252	−11.6%	2,803.36	89.93	8	North Central
Shumen	204,378	180,528	−11.7%	3,389.68	53.65	10	North Eastern
Silistra	142,000	119,474	−15.9%	2,846.29	41.74	7	North Central
Sliven	218,474	197,473	−9.6%	3,544.07	54.16	4	South Eastern
Smolyan	140,066	121,752	−13.1%	3,192.85	34.47	10	South Central
Sofia City	1,170,842	1,291,591	+10.3%	1,348.90	957.44	1	South Western
Sofia (province)	273,240	247,489	−9.4%	7,062.33	34.01	22	South Western
Stara Zagora	370,615	333,265	−10.1%	5,151.12	67.20	11	South Eastern
Targovishte	137,689	120,818	−12.3%	2,558.53	44.17	5	North Eastern
Varna	462,013	475,074	+2.8%	3,819.47	124.40	12	North Eastern
Veliko Tarnovo	293,172	258,494	−11.8%	4,661.57	55.19	10	North Central
Vidin	130,074	101,018	−22.3%	3,032.88	32.89	11	North Western
Vratsa	243,036	186,848	−23.1%	3,619.77	45.59	10	North Western
Yambol	156,070	131,447	−15.8%	3,355.48	31.23	5	South Eastern

History

In 1987, the then-existing 28 districts were transformed into 9 large units (in Bulgarian called oblasts – provinces), which survived until 1999.→^[4]

The 9 large provinces are listed below, along with the pre-1987 districts (post-1999 small provinces) comprising them.

1987–1998 oblasts	Comprising former districts (future provinces)
Burgas	Burgas, Sliven, Yambol
Haskovo	Haskovo, Kardzhali, Stara Zagora
Lovech	Gabrovo, Lovech, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo
Montana	Montana, Vidin, Vratsa
Plovdiv	Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan
Razgrad	Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Targovishte
Sofia	Sofia City
Sofia	Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia
Varna	Dobrich, Shumen, Varna

On 1 January 1999, the old districts were restored with some modifications, but the designation ("oblast") "province" was kept.

Related Research Articles

Eastern Rumelia was an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire with a total area of 32,978 km², which was created in 1878 by virtue of the Treaty of Berlin and de facto ceased to exist in 1885, when it was united with the Principality of Bulgaria, also under nominal Ottoman suzerainty. It continued to be an Ottoman province de jure until 1908, when Bulgaria declared independence. Ethnic Bulgarians formed a majority of the population in Eastern Rumelia, but there were significant Turkish and Greek minorities. Its capital was Plovdiv. The official languages of Eastern Rumelia were Bulgarian, Greek and Ottoman Turkish.

Smolyan Province is a province in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the city of Smolyan. The province embraces a territory of 3,192.8 km² (1,232.7 sq mi). that is divided into 10 municipalities with a total population of 124,795 inhabitants, as of December 2009.

Kardzhali Province is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km² in area. Its main city is Kardzhali.

Haskovo Province is a province in southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece and Turkey to the southeast, comprising parts of the Thracian valley along the river Maritsa. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Haskovo. The province embraces a territory of 5,533.3 km² (2,136.4 sq mi) that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 256,408 inhabitants.

Kyustendil Province is a province in southwestern Bulgaria, extending over an area of 3,084.3 km² (1,190.9 sq mi), and with a population of 163,889. It borders the provinces of Sofia, Pernik, and Blagoevgrad; to the west, its limits coincide with the state borders between Bulgaria and North Macedonia, and between Bulgaria and the Republic of Serbia. The administrative center of the Province is Kyustendil.

Pazardzhik Province is a province in Southern Bulgaria, named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Pazardzhik. The territory is 4,456.9 km² (1,720.8 sq mi) that is divided into 12 municipalities with a total population of 275,548 inhabitants, as of February 2011.

Plovdiv Province is a province in central southern Bulgaria. It comprises 18 municipalities on a territory of 5,972.9 km² (2,306.1 sq mi) with a population, as of February 2011, of 683,027 inhabitants. The province is named after its administrative and industrial centre — the city of Plovdiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruse Province</span> Province of Bulgaria

Ruse Province, or Rusenska Oblast is a province in northern Bulgaria, named after its main city, Ruse, neighbouring Romania via the Danube. It is divided into 8 municipalities with a total population, as of February 2011, of 235,252 inhabitants.

Pleven Province is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of 4,653.32 km² (1,796.66 sq mi) with a population, as of February 2011, of 269 752 inhabitants. The province's capital is the city of Pleven.

The Muslim Bulgarians are Bulgarians who follow the faith of Islam. They are generally thought to be the descendants of the local Slavs who converted to Islam during Ottoman rule. Most scholars have agreed that the Bulgarian Muslims are a "religious group of Bulgarian Slavs who speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue and do not understand Turkish, but whose religion and customs are Islamic". Bulgarian Muslims live mostly in the Rhodopes – Smolyan Province, the southern part of the Pazardzhik and Kardzhali Provinces and the eastern part of the Blagoevgrad Province in Southern Bulgaria. They also live in a group of villages in the Lovech Province in Northern Bulgaria. The name Pomak is pejorative in Bulgarian and is resented by most members of the community, The name adopted and used instead of Pomak is Bulgarian Muslims.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northern Thrace</span> Region of Thrace

Northern Thrace or North Thrace, also called Bulgarian Thrace, constitutes the northern and largest part of the historical region of Thrace. It is located in Southern Bulgaria and includes the territory south of the Balkan Mountains and east of the Mesta River, bordering Western Thrace and East Thrace in the south, and the Black Sea in the east. It encompasses Sredna Gora, the Upper Thracian Plain, and 90% of the Rhodopes.

The Bulgarian Red Cross, or BRC, was established in 1878 after the liberation of the Principality of Bulgaria and the region of Eastern Rumelia from the Ottoman Empire. The first BRC organization was established in May 1878 in Sofia. The regional governor, V.P. Alabin, recruited many prominent citizens of the city, and led their work in the first BRC. The two Bulgarian provinces, Principality of Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia, became unified on September 20, 1885. The National Organization of the BRC was then founded, with the approval of the statues of the organization by the first Bulgarian Prince, Prince Alexander of Battenberg. On October 20, 1885, the BRC was recognized by, and became a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Significant contributions made by Tsar Boris III during the period of 1918–1943, which provided the organization with the ability to establish itself, and to take the first steps towards creating a Bulgarian social health system.

The Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of Bulgaria for statistical purposes. The standard is developed and regulated by the European Union. The NUTS standard is instrumental in delivering the European Union's Structural Funds. The NUTS code for Bulgaria is BG and a hierarchy of three levels is established by Eurostat. Below these is a further levels of geographic organisation - the local administrative unit (LAU). In Bulgaria, the LAU 1 is municipalities and the LAU 2 is settlements.

Southern Bulgaria is the southern half of the territory of Bulgaria, located to the south of the main ridge of the Balkan Mountains which conventionally separates the country into a northern and a southern part. Besides the Balkan Mountains, Southern Bulgaria borders Serbia to the west, North Macedonia to the southwest, Greece to the south, Turkey to the southeast and the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast to the east.

Sofia City Province is a province (oblast) of Bulgaria. Its administrative center is the city of Sofia, the capital of the country.

The 2004–05 Bulgarian Cup was the 65th season of the Bulgarian Cup. Levski Sofia won the competition, beating CSKA Sofia 2–1 in the final at the Vasil Levski National Stadium in Sofia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarnitsa Municipality</span> Municipality in Pazardzhik Province, Bulgaria

Sarnitsa Municipality is one of the municipalities located in Pazardzhik Province. Its administrative centre is Sarnitsa. The municipality was established on 1 January 2015.

References

↑ "South Central Planning Region". European Commission. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
1 2 3 Национален статистически институт. "2011 Population Census – Main Results" (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2017– via nsi.bg.
1 2 Представяме Ви резултатите от Преброяване 2011 за страната, по области и общини. censusresults.nsi.bg. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
↑ "Bulgaria – Government Structure". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "South Central Planning Region". European Commission. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-07.

[census2011-2] 1 2 3 Национален статистически институт. "2011 Population Census – Main Results" (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2017– via nsi.bg.

[census2011A-3] 1 2 Представяме Ви резултатите от Преброяване 2011 за страната, по области и общини. censusresults.nsi.bg. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[4] "Bulgaria – Government Structure". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 15 October 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e First-level administrative divisions in European countries
Sovereign states	Albania Andorra Armenia ² Austria Azerbaijan ¹ Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus ² Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia ¹ Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan ¹ Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia ¹ San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey ¹ Ukraine United Kingdom
States with limited recognition	Abkhazia ² Artsakh ² Kosovo Northern Cyprus ² South Ossetia ² Transnistria
Table of administrative divisions by country ¹ Spans the conventional boundary between Europe and another continent. ² Considered European for cultural, political and historical reasons but is geographically in Western Asia.