Jump to content

Provinces of Bulgaria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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
Politics of Bulgaria
Constitution
Presidency
  • Executive
  • Legislative
Majorpolitical parties
Recentelections
Administrative divisions
Foreign relations

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

Since 1999,Bulgariahas 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 bothSofia ProvinceandSofia City Province(Sofia-grad). The capital is included (together with three other cities plus 34 villages) inSofia Capital Municipality(over 90% of whose population lives in Sofia), which is the sole municipality comprising Sofia City province.

Terminology[edit]

Distribution of provinces byNUTS: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": "28regions(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 fivedistricts– Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Haskovo, and Kyrdzhali. "– in a website of the European Commission.[1]

Provinces[edit]

Province Population(Census 2011)[2] Population(Census 2021)[2] Change(2011/2021)[2] Land area(km2) Population density(/km2) Municipalities Planning
Region
Blagoevgrad 323,552292,227-9.7%6,449.47 45.3114 South Western
Burgas 415,817380,286-8.5%7,748.07 49.0813 South Eastern
Dobrich 189,677150,146-20.8%4,719.71 31.818 North Eastern
Gabrovo 122,70298,387-19.8%2,023.01 48.634 North Central
Haskovo 246,238211,565-14.1%5,533.29 38.2311 South Central
Kardzhali 152,808141,177-7.6%3,209.11 43.997 South Central
Kyustendil 136,686111,736-18.3%3,051.52 36.619 South Western
Lovech 141,422116,394-17.7%4,128.76 28.198 North Western
Montana 148,098119,950-19.0%3,635.38 32.9911 North Western
Pazardzhik 275,548229,814-16.6%4,456.92 51.5612 South Central
Pernik 133,530114,162-14.5%2,394.22 47.686 South Western
Pleven 269,752226,120-16.2%4,653.32 48.5911 North Western
Plovdiv 683,027634,497-7.1%5,972.89 106.2218 South Central
Razgrad 125,190103,223-17.5%2,639.74 39.107 North Central
Ruse 235,252193,483-17.8%2,803.36 69.018 North Central
Shumen 180,528151,465-16.1%3,389.68 44.6810 North Eastern
Silistra 119,47497,770-18.2%2,846.29 34.347 North Central
Sliven 197,473172,690-12.6%3,544.07 48.724 South Eastern
Smolyan 121,75296,284-20.9%3,192.85 30.1510 South Central
Sofia City 1,291,5911,274,290-1.3%1,348.90 944.681 South Western
Sofia Province 247,489231,989-6.3%7,062.33 32.8422 South Western
Stara Zagora 333,265296,507-11.0%5,151.12 57.5611 South Eastern
Targovishte 120,81898,144-18.8%2,558.53 38.355 North Eastern
Varna 475,074432,198-9.0%3,819.47 113.1512 North Eastern
Veliko Tarnovo 258,494207,371-19.8%4,661.57 44.4810 North Central
Vidin 101,01875,408-25.4%3,032.88 24.8611 North Western
Vratsa 186,848152,813-18.2%3,619.77 42.2110 North Western
Yambol 131,447109,693-16.5%3,355.48 32.695 South Eastern
Bulgaria 7,364,570 6,519,789 -11.5% 111,001.71 58.73 265

History[edit]

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 calledoblasts–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[edit]

References[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toProvinces of Bulgaria.
  1. ^"South Central Planning Region".European Commission.Archived fromthe originalon 2014-10-13.Retrieved2014-10-07.
  2. ^abc"Bulgaria: Major Cities".citypopulation.de.
  3. ^"Bulgaria – Government Structure".countrystudies.us.Retrieved15 October2017.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Provinces_of_Bulgaria&oldid=1231265240"