Provinces of Bulgaria

Provinces of Bulgaria
Oбласти на България
Provinces of Bulgaria; Oбласти на България
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;

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

Distribution of provinces by NUTS: Level 1 (regions): Northern and South-Eastern, South-Western and South-Central (that are logistical regions too, the area covered by a truck from its logistic center in a day go and back); Level 2 (planning regions)

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 [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

•

Sofia-grad

Black Sea

Danube

North
Macedonia

Greece

Romania

Serbia

Turkey

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

Provinces (with ex-districts) in 1987–1999

Provinces of Bulgaria from 1987 to 1998

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.

References

"South Central Planning Region". European Commission. Archived from the original on 2014-10-13. Retrieved 2014-10-07.
Национален статистически институт. "2011 Population Census – Main Results" (PDF). Retrieved 15 October 2017 – via nsi.bg.
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.

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

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

[census2011A-3] 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.

First-level administrative divisions in European countries
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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.

Provinces of Bulgaria

Terminology

Provinces

History

See also

References