The provinces of Bulgaria ( bg, области на България, oblasti na Bǎlgarija) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the country. Since 1999,

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

has been divided into 28 provinces ( bg, области, links=no – ''oblasti;'' singular: – ''

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

''; also translated as "regions") which correspond approximately to the 28 districts (in bg, links=no, окръг – '' okrǎg'', plural: – ''okrǎzi''), that existed before 1987. The provinces are further subdivided into 265 municipalities (singular: – '' obshtina'', plural: – ''obshtini'').

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

– 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 The Stolichna Municipality ( bg, Столична община, lit=Capital Municipality, translit=Stolichna obshtina (also transcribed as Stolična obština)) is an obshtina (''municipality'') in Sofia City Province, Western Bulgaria. It is named ...

(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), they are not named but only described as "oblast with administrative centre oun – together with a list of the constituting municipalities. In Bulgaria they are usually called " djectiveOblast"; occasionally they are referred to as "Oblast oun and rarely as "oblast with administrative centre oun. 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.

Provinces

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Population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction usi ...

(Census 2001) !width="100px",

(Census 2011) !width="120px",

Population growth Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

(2001/2011) !width="100px", Land area (km²) !width="120px",

Population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

(/km²) !width="120px",

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

!width="120px", Planning
Region , - , align="left", Blagoevgrad , , 341,173 , , 323,552 , , −5.2% , , 6,449.47 , , 50.17 , , 14 , , South Western , align="left", Burgas , , 423,547 , , 415,817 , , −1.8% , , 7,748.07 , , 54.58 , , 13 , , South Eastern , align="left", Dobrich , , 215,217 , , 189,677 , , −11.9% , , 4,719.71 , , 40.36 , , 8 , , North Eastern , align="left",

Gabrovo Gabrovo ( bg, Габрово ) is a town in central northern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Gabrovo Province. It is situated at the foot of the central Balkan Mountains, in the valley of the Yantra River, and is known as an internat ...

, , 144,125 , , 122,702 , , −14.9% , , 2,023.01 , , 59.77 , , 4 , , North Central , align="left", Haskovo , , 277,478 , , 246,238 , , −11.3% , , 5,533.29 , , 61.06 , , 11 , , South Central , align="left",

Kardzhali Kardzhali ( bg, Кърджали , ''Kărdžali''; tr, Kırcaali; gr, Κάρτζαλι, ''Kártzali''), sometimes spelt Kardžali or Kurdzhali, is a town in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria, centre of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Pro ...

, , 164,019 , , 152,808 , , −6.8% , , 3,209.11 , , 37.90 , , 7 , , South Central , align="left", Kyustendil , , 162,534 , , 136,686 , , −15.9% , , 3,051.52 , , 45.16 , , 9 , , South Western , align="left", Lovech , , 169,951 , , 141,422 , , −16.8% , , 4,128.76 , , 34.21 , , 8 , , North Western , align="left",

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

, , 182,258 , , 148,098 , , −18.7% , , 3,635.38 , , 41.20 , , 11 , , North Western , align="left", Pazardzhik , , 310,723 , , 275,548 , , −11.3% , , 4,456.92 , , 62.72 , , 12 , , South Central , align="left", Pernik , , 149,832 , , 133,530 , , −10.9% , , 2,394.22 , , 56.18 , , 6 , , South Western , align="left",

Pleven Pleven ( bg, Плèвен ) is the seventh most populous city in Bulgaria. Located in the northern part of the country, it is the administrative centre of Pleven Province, as well as of the subordinate Pleven municipality. It is the biggest ...

, , 311,985 , , 269,752 , , −13.5% , , 4,653.32 , , 63.98 , , 11 , , North Western , align="left", Plovdiv , , 715,816 , , 683,027 , , −4.6% , , 5,972.89 , , 114.35 , , 18 , , South Central , align="left", Razgrad , , 152,417 , , 125,190 , , −17.9% , , 2,639.74 , , 47.28 , , 7 , , North Central , align="left",

Ruse Ruse may refer to: Places *Ruse, Bulgaria, a major city of Bulgaria **Ruse Municipality **Ruse Province ** 19th MMC – Ruse, a constituency *Ruše, a town and municipality in north-eastern Slovenia * Ruše, Žalec, a small settlement in east-cen ...

, , 266,157 , , 235,252 , , −11.6% , , 2,803.36 , , 89.93 , , 8 , , North Central , align="left", Shumen , , 204,378 , , 180,528 , , −11.7% , , 3,389.68 , , 53.65 , , 10 , , North Eastern , align="left",

Silistra Silistra ( bg, Силистра ; tr, Silistre; ro, Silistra) is a town in Northeastern Bulgaria. The town lies on the southern bank of the lower Danube river, and is also the part of the Romanian border where it stops following the Danube. Si ...

, , 142,000 , , 119,474 , , −15.9% , , 2,846.29 , , 41.74 , , 7 , , North Central , align="left", Sliven , , 218,474 , , 197,473 , , −9.6% , , 3,544.07 , , 54.16 , , 4 , , South Eastern , align="left", Smolyan , , 140,066 , , 121,752 , , −13.1% , , 3,192.85 , , 34.47 , , 10 , , South Central , align="left",

Sofia City Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and has ...

, , 1,170,842 , , 1,291,591 , , +10.3% , , 1,348.90 , , 957.44 , , 1 , , South Western , align="left", Sofia (province) , , 273,240 , , 247,489 , , −9.4% , , 7,062.33 , , 34.01 , , 22 , , South Western , align="left",

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora ( bg, Стара Загора, ) is the sixth-largest city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of the homonymous Stara Zagora Province. Name The name comes from the Slavic root ''star'' ("old") and the name of the medieva ...

, , 370,615 , , 333,265 , , −10.1% , , 5,151.12 , , 67.20 , , 11 , , South Eastern , align="left", Targovishte , , 137,689 , , 120,818 , , −12.3% , , 2,558.53 , , 44.17 , , 5 , , North Eastern , align="left", Varna , , 462,013 , , 475,074 , , +2.8% , , 3,819.47 , , 124.40 , , 12 , , North Eastern , align="left", Veliko Tarnovo , , 293,172 , , 258,494 , , −11.8% , , 4,661.57 , , 55.19 , , 10 , , North Central , align="left", Vidin , , 130,074 , , 101,018 , , −22.3% , , 3,032.88 , , 32.89 , , 11 , , North Western , align="left", Vratsa , , 243,036 , , 186,848 , , −23.1% , , 3,619.77 , , 45.59 , , 10 , , North Western , align="left", 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

s – ''provinces''), which survived until 1999.→ The 9 large provinces are listed below, along with the pre-1987 districts (post-1999 small provinces) comprising them. {, class="wikitable" ! 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.

References

{{Provinces of Bulgaria Bulgaria, Provinces Bulgaria 1 Provinces, Bulgaria Lists of populated places in Bulgaria

Terminology

Provinces

History

See also

References