Provinces of Bulgaria

First-level administrative subdivisions of Bulgaria

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

Politics of Bulgaria

Constitution

* 1879
* 1947
* 1971
* 1991

Presidency

* President (list)

Rumen Radev
* Vice President

Iliana Iotova

* Executive
* Legislative

* Government
* Prime Minister (list)

Nikolay Denkov
* National Assembly

Speaker: Rosen Zhelyazkov

* Law
* Judiciary

* Nationality law
* Human rights
* Courts

Constitutional Court
Supreme Administrative Court
Supreme Court of Cassation
Office of the General Prosecutor

Major political parties

* PP
* GERB
* DPS
* Bulgarian Socialist Party
* Democratic Bulgaria
* Revival
* Bulgarian Rise

Recent elections

*     * Presidential: 2011
* 2016
* 2021

*     * Parliamentary: 2022
* 2023
* 2024

*     * European: 2014
* 2019
* 2024

Administrative divisions

* Provinces (oblasti)
* Municipalities (obshtini)

Foreign relations

* 2007 EU enlargement

Kristalina Georgieva

* * *

* Politics of the European Union

* Bulgaria portal

* Other countries

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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[edit]

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[edit]

Blagoevgrad

Burgas

Dobrich

Gabrovo

Haskovo

Kardzhali

Kyustendil

Lovech

Montana

Pazardzhik

Pernik

Pleven

Plovdiv

Razgrad

Ruse

Shumen

Silistra

Sliven

Smolyan

Sofia-grad

Sofia

Stara Zagora

Targovishte

Varna

Veliko Tarnovo

Vidin

Vratsa

Yambol

Black Sea

Danube

North
Macedonia

Greece

Romania

Serbia

Turkey

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[edit]

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.→[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]

* Administrative divisions below the province level:
* List of cities and towns in Bulgaria
* List of villages in Bulgaria
* Municipalities of Bulgaria
* Constituencies of Bulgaria, which are based on the provinces
* ISO 3166-2:BG
* List of Bulgarian provinces by GDP
* Liste des gouverneurs des provinces bulgares (in French)

## References[edit]

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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Provinces of Bulgaria

* Blagoevgrad
* Burgas
* Dobrich
* Gabrovo
* Haskovo
* Kardzhali
* Kyustendil
* Lovech
* Montana
* Pazardzhik
* Pernik
* Pleven
* Plovdiv
* Razgrad
* Ruse
* Shumen
* Silistra
* Sliven
* Smolyan
* Sofia City Province
* Sofia Province
* Stara Zagora
* Targovishte
* Varna
* Veliko Tarnovo
* Vidin
* Vratsa
* Yambol

Etymological list of provinces of Bulgaria
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