Belogradchik Municipality

Belogradchik Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Белоградчик) is a municipality (obshtina) in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located in the western parts of the so-called Fore-Balkan area. It is named after its administrative centre - the town of Belogradchik. To the west and southwest, the municipality borders on Republic of Serbia.

Belogradchik Municipality
Община Белоградчик
Municipality
Belogradchik Municipality within Bulgaria and Vidin Province.
Belogradchik Municipality within Bulgaria and Vidin Province.
Coordinates: 43°39′N 22°35′E
Country Bulgaria
Province (Oblast)Vidin
Admin. centre (Obshtinski tsentar)Belogradchik
Area
 • Total411 km2 (159 sq mi)
Population
 (December 2009)[1]
 • Total7,045
 • Density17/km2 (44/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)

The area embraces a territory of 411 km2 (159 sq mi) with a population of 7,045 inhabitants, as of December 2009.[1]

The municipality is best known with the Belogradchik Rocks, impressive rock formations located just south of the main town as well as the medieval Belogradchik Fortress situated in the same rocky area. Another place of interest is the Magura Cave, with its beautiful prehistoric cave paintings.

Settlements

Belogradchik Municipality includes the following 18 places (towns are shown in bold):

Town/Village Cyrillic Population[2][3][4]
(December 2009)
Belogradchik Белоградчик 5,334
Borovitsa Боровица 195
Chiflik Чифлик 128
Dabravka Дъбравка 77
Granitovo Гранитово 66
Granichak Граничак 19
Krachimir Крачимир 26
Oshane Ошане 71
Prauzhda Праужда 74
Prolaznitsa Пролазница 18
Rabisha Рабиша 312
Rayanovtsi Раяновци 144
Salash Салаш 217
Slivovnik Сливовник 26
Stakevtsi Стакевци 233
Struindol Струиндол 23
Veshtitsa Вещица 53
Varba Върба 29
Total 7,045

Demography
The Belogradchik Fortress

The following table shows the change of the population during the last four decades.

Belogradchik Municipality
Year 1975 1985 1992 2001 2005 2007 2009 2011
Population 12,255 11,048 9,896 8,217 7,553 7,270 7,045 6,602
Sources: Census 2001,[5] Census 2011,[6] „pop-stat.mashke.org“,[7]

Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:

Religious composition of Belogradchik Municipality [8]
Orthodox Christianity
 
 71.7%
Catholicism
 
 0.3%
Protestantism
 
 0.6%
Islam
 
 0.1%
No religion
 
 19.2%
Prefer not to answer, others and indefinable
 
 8.1%

An overwhelming majority of the population of Belogradchik Municipality identify themselves as Christians. At the 2011 census, 71.7% of respondents identified as Orthodox Christians belonging to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

See also

References
  1. (in English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian provinces and municipalities in 2009 Archived November 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  2. (in English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian towns in 2009 Archived November 13, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. (in English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian villages under 1000 inhabitants - December 2009
  4. (in English) Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian Settlements 1000-5000 inhabitants - December 2009
  5. (in English)National Statistical Institute - Census 2001
  6. „pop-stat.mashke.org“
  7. "Population of Bulgarian divisions". Pop-stat.mashke.org. 2011-02-01. Retrieved 2012-03-28.
  8. "Religious composition of Bulgaria 2011". pop-stat.mashke.org.
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