Country Bulgaria License plate K Population 152,808 (Feb 2011) Municipalities 7 | Time zone EET (UTC+2) Website www.kj.government.bg Capital Kardzhali | |
 | ||
Points of interest Perperikon, Dyavolski most, The Stone Mushrooms, Cult complex “Utroba c, Regional Museum of History K Destinations Kardzhali, Dzhebel, Ardino, Momchilgrad, Krumovgrad | ||
Kardzhali Province (Bulgarian: Област Кърджали, Oblast Kardzhali) is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope and Evros to the south and east. Kardzhali Province's area is 3209.1 km². Its main city is Kardzhali.
Contents
- Map of Kardzhali Province Bulgaria
- History
- Municipalities
- Towns and villages
- Population
- Ethnic groups
- Language
- Religion
- References
Map of Kardzhali Province, Bulgaria
History
The territory of Kardzhali province was acquired by Bulgaria during the First Balkan War in 1912. In 1913 the region was organized as the district (окръг, okrag in Bulgarian) of Mestanli. This district was part of Stara Zagora province from 1934 until 1949, then it was transferred to the newly formed Haskovo district. In 1959 Kardzhali became the center of a new district with similar borders to the current province. Between 1987 and 1999, the region was part of Haskovo Province, after which it was restored, now as a province and with slightly changed borders.
Municipalities
The Kardzhali province (област, oblast) contains seven municipalities (singular: oбщина, obshtina - plural: общини, obshtini). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population as of 2009.
Towns and villages
The population data and figures are of December 15, 2004
Population
Kardzhali Province had a population of 149,661 according to the provisional results of the 2011 census, of which 7001498000000000000♠49.8% were male and 7001502000000000000♠50.2% were female.
The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:
Ethnic groups
Total population (2011 census): 152 808
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 130 781 persons:
A further 22,000 persons in the province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
In the 2001 census, 158,704 people of the population of 164,019 of Karzhali Province identified themselves as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups (with percentage of total population):
Language
In the 2001 census, 160,167 people of the population of 164,019 of Karzhali Province identified one of the following as their mother tongue (with percentage of total population):
Religion
According to the 2011 census, Muslims are 82,227 (70.14% of those who answered) and the Orthodox are 23,916 (20.4% of those who answered). The Muslims' figure is made up of Turks and in significant part by Muslim Bulgarians, though the Orthodox are the majority among the Bulgarians in the province.
In the 2001 census, 149,839 people of the population of 164,019 of Karzhali Province identified one of the following as their religion (with percentage of total population):