The provinces of Bulgaria () are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the country. Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces ( – oblasti; singular: – oblast; also translated as "regions") which correspond approximately to the 28 districts (in – okrǎg, plural: – okrǎzi), that existed before 1987.

The provinces are further subdivided into 265 municipalities (singular: – obshtina, plural: – 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

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 oblast (област) is preferably translated into English as "province", in order to avoid disambiguation and distinguish from the former unit called okrag ("окръг", translated as "district"), and the term region (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" according to the European Commission.

Provinces

Province Population (Census 2011) Population (Census 2021) Change (2011/2021) Land area (km2) Population density (/km2) Municipalities PlanningRegion Blagoevgrad 323,552 292,227 -9.7% 6,449.47 45.31 14 South Western</tr> Burgas 415,817 380,286 -8.5% 7,748.07 49.08 13 South Eastern</tr> Dobrich 189,677 150,146 -20.8% 4,719.71 31.81 8 North Eastern</tr> Gabrovo 122,702 98,387 -19.8% 2,023.01 48.63 4 North Central</tr> Haskovo 246,238 211,565 -14.1% 5,533.29 38.23 11 South Central</tr> Kardzhali 152,808 141,177 -7.6% 3,209.11 43.99 7 South Central</tr> Kyustendil 136,686 111,736 -18.3% 3,051.52 36.61 9 South Western</tr> Lovech 141,422 116,394 -17.7% 4,128.76 28.19 8 North Western</tr> Montana 148,098 119,950 -19.0% 3,635.38 32.99 11 North Western</tr> Pazardzhik 275,548 229,814 -16.6% 4,456.92 51.56 12 South Central</tr> Pernik 133,530 114,162 -14.5% 2,394.22 47.68 6 South Western</tr> Pleven 269,752 226,120 -16.2% 4,653.32 48.59 11 North Western</tr> Plovdiv 683,027 634,497 -7.1% 5,972.89 106.22 18 South Central</tr> Razgrad 125,190 103,223 -17.5% 2,639.74 39.10 7 North Central</tr> Ruse 235,252 193,483 -17.8% 2,803.36 69.01 8 North Central</tr> Shumen 180,528 151,465 -16.1% 3,389.68 44.68 10 North Eastern</tr> Silistra 119,474 97,770 -18.2% 2,846.29 34.34 7 North Central</tr> Sliven 197,473 172,690 -12.6% 3,544.07 48.72 4 South Eastern</tr> Smolyan 121,752 96,284 -20.9% 3,192.85 30.15 10 South Central</tr> Sofia City 1,291,591 1,274,290 -1.3% 1,348.90 944.68 1 South Western</tr> Sofia Province 247,489 231,989 -6.3% 7,062.33 32.84 22 South Western</tr> Stara Zagora 333,265 296,507 -11.0% 5,151.12 57.56 11 South Eastern</tr> Targovishte 120,818 98,144 -18.8% 2,558.53 38.35 5 North Eastern</tr> Varna 475,074 432,198 -9.0% 3,819.47 113.15 12 North Eastern</tr> Veliko Tarnovo 258,494 207,371 -19.8% 4,661.57 44.48 10 North Central</tr> Vidin 101,018 75,408 -25.4% 3,032.88 24.86 11 North Western</tr> Vratsa 186,848 152,813 -18.2% 3,619.77 42.21 10 North Western</tr> Yambol 131,447 109,693 -16.5% 3,355.48 32.69 5 South Eastern</tr>7,364,5706,519,789-11.5%111,001.7158.73265

History

In 1987, the then-existing 28 districts (okrags) were transformed into 9 large units (in Bulgarian called oblasts – provinces), which survived until 1999. The 9 large provinces are listed below, along with the pre-1987 districts (post-1999 small provinces) comprising them.

1987–1998oblasts Comprising former districts (future provinces)</tr> Burgas Burgas, Sliven, Yambol</tr> Haskovo Haskovo, Kardzhali, Stara Zagora</tr> Lovech Gabrovo, Lovech, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo</tr> Montana Montana, Vidin, Vratsa</tr> Plovdiv Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Smolyan</tr> Razgrad Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Targovishte</tr> Sofia Sofia City</tr> Sofia Blagoevgrad, Kyustendil, Pernik, Sofia</tr> Varna Dobrich, Shumen, Varna</tr> On 1 January 1999, the old districts were restored with some modifications; however, the designation oblast ("province") was kept.

See also Administrative divisions below the province level: List of cities and towns in Bulgaria List of villages in Bulgaria Municipalities of Bulgaria ISO 3166-2:BG List of Bulgarian constituencies, which are based on the provinces List of Bulgarian provinces by GDP List of governors of the provinces of Bulgaria

References