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Provinces of Bulgaria

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

Provinces of Bulgaria
Oбласти на България
CategoryUnitary state
LocationRepublic of Bulgaria
Number28 (as of 1999)
Populations101,018 (Vidin) – 1,291,591 (Sofia City)
Areas1,348.90 km2 (520.81 sq mi) (Sofia City)– 7,748.07 km2 (2,991.55 sq mi) (Burgas)
Government
Subdivisions

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

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Distribution of provinces by NUTS: Level 1 (regions): North Eastern, North Central, North Western, South Central, South Eastern, South Western ; Level 2 (planning regions)

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

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Province Population (Census 2011)[2] Population (Census 2021)[2] Change (2011/2021)[2] Land area (km2) Population density (/km2) Municipalities Planning
Region
Blagoevgrad 323,552 292,227 -9.7% 6,449.47 45.31 14 South Western
Burgas 415,817 380,286 -8.5% 7,748.07 49.08 13 South Eastern
Dobrich 189,677 150,146 -20.8% 4,719.71 31.81 8 North Eastern
Gabrovo 122,702 98,387 -19.8% 2,023.01 48.63 4 North Central
Haskovo 246,238 211,565 -14.1% 5,533.29 38.23 11 South Central
Kardzhali 152,808 141,177 -7.6% 3,209.11 43.99 7 South Central
Kyustendil 136,686 111,736 -18.3% 3,051.52 36.61 9 South Western
Lovech 141,422 116,394 -17.7% 4,128.76 28.19 8 North Western
Montana 148,098 119,950 -19.0% 3,635.38 32.99 11 North Western
Pazardzhik 275,548 229,814 -16.6% 4,456.92 51.56 12 South Central
Pernik 133,530 114,162 -14.5% 2,394.22 47.68 6 South Western
Pleven 269,752 226,120 -16.2% 4,653.32 48.59 11 North Western
Plovdiv 683,027 634,497 -7.1% 5,972.89 106.22 18 South Central
Razgrad 125,190 103,223 -17.5% 2,639.74 39.10 7 North Central
Ruse 235,252 193,483 -17.8% 2,803.36 69.01 8 North Central
Shumen 180,528 151,465 -16.1% 3,389.68 44.68 10 North Eastern
Silistra 119,474 97,770 -18.2% 2,846.29 34.34 7 North Central
Sliven 197,473 172,690 -12.6% 3,544.07 48.72 4 South Eastern
Smolyan 121,752 96,284 -20.9% 3,192.85 30.15 10 South Central
Sofia City 1,291,591 1,274,290 -1.3% 1,348.90 944.68 1 South Western
Sofia Province 247,489 231,989 -6.3% 7,062.33 32.84 22 South Western
Stara Zagora 333,265 296,507 -11.0% 5,151.12 57.56 11 South Eastern
Targovishte 120,818 98,144 -18.8% 2,558.53 38.35 5 North Eastern
Varna 475,074 432,198 -9.0% 3,819.47 113.15 12 North Eastern
Veliko Tarnovo 258,494 207,371 -19.8% 4,661.57 44.48 10 North Central
Vidin 101,018 75,408 -25.4% 3,032.88 24.86 11 North Western
Vratsa 186,848 152,813 -18.2% 3,619.77 42.21 10 North Western
Yambol 131,447 109,693 -16.5% 3,355.48 32.69 5 South Eastern
  Bulgaria 7,364,570 6,519,789 -11.5% 111,001.71 58.73 265

History

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Provinces (with ex-districts) in 1987–1999
 
Provinces of Bulgaria from 1987 to 1998

In 1987, the then-existing 28 districts (okrags) were transformed into 9 large units (in Bulgarian called oblasts – provinces), which survived until 1999.[3]

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.

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Provinces of Bulgaria.
  1. ^ "South Central Planning Region". European Commission. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
  2. ^ a b c "Bulgaria: Major Cities". citypopulation.de.
  3. ^ "Bulgaria – Government Structure". countrystudies.us. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
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