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Kardzhali Province (Bulgarian: Област Кърджали, romanized: Oblast Kărdžali, Turkish: Kırcaali ili) is a province of southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece with the Greek regional units of Xanthi, Rhodope, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km² in area. Its main city is Kardzhali.

Kardzhali Province Област Кърджали
Province
Location of Kardzhali Province in Bulgaria
Country	Bulgaria
Capital	Kardzhali
Municipalities	7
Government
• Governor	Nikola Chanev
Area
• Total	3,209 km2 (1,239 sq mi)
Population  (February 2011)[1]
• Total	152,808
• Density	48/km2 (120/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)
License plate	K
Website	www.kj.government.bg

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, okrăg in Bulgarian) of Mestanli. This district was part of Stara Zagora province from 1934 until 1949,[2] 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: община, obština; plural: общини, obštini). 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.

Municipality	Cyrillic	Pop.[3]	Town or village	Pop.[3]
Ardino	Ардино	13,766	Ardino	4,368
Chernoochene	Черноочене	10,132	Chernoochene	335
Dzhebel	Джебел	9,012	Dzhebel	3,288
Kardzhali	Кърджали	75,525	Kardzhali	50,482
Kirkovo	Кирково	22,833	Kirkovo	719
Krumovgrad	Крумовград	20,517	Krumovgrad	5,475
Momchilgrad	Момчилград	19,327	Momchilgrad	9,187

Towns and villages

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2009)

The population data and figures are of December 15, 2004

• Abramovo (pop: 94)
• Ahrisko (pop: 127, elev: 680 m, postal code: 6761)

Population

Kardzhali Province had a population of 149,661 according to the provisional results of the 2011 census, of which 49.8% were male and 50.2% were female.[1][4][5][6] Kardzhali is one of the three Bulgarian provinces where less than fifty percent of the population living in urban areas: only 41% lives in urban areas in 2016.

The following table represents the change of the population in the province after World War II:

Kardzhali Province
Year	1946	1956	1965	1975	1985	1992	2001	2005	2007	2009	2011
Population	218,686	246,761	283,758	273,906	290,254	203,251	164,019	158,541	156,652	154,719	152,808
Sources: National Statistical Institute,[4] „Census 2001“,[5] „Census 2011“,[1] „pop-stat.mashke.org“,??

Ethnic groups

Total population (2011 census): 152,808[7]
Ethnic groups (2011 census):[8] Identified themselves: 130,781 persons:

• Turks: 86,527 (66.16%)
• Bulgarians: 39,519 (30.22%)
• Others and indefinable: 4,735 (3.62%)

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):[9]

Ethnic group	Population	Percentage
Turks	101,116	61.649%
Bulgarians	55,939	34.105%
Romani	1,264	0.771%
Russians	234	0.143%
Armenians	41	0.025%
Greeks	21	0.013%
Ukrainians	20	0.012%
Macedonians	7	0.004%
Jews	1	0.001%
Romanians	1	0.001%
Other	60	0.037%

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):

• 101,548 Turkish (61.9%)
• 57,046 Bulgarian (34.8%)
• 1,171 Romani (0.7%)
• 402 other (0.2%).[10]

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):[11]

Census 2001
religious adherence	population	%
Muslims	114,217	69.6%
Orthodox Christians	35,265	21.5%
Roman Catholics	197	0.1%
Protestants	89	0.1%
Other	71	0.0%
Religion not mentioned	14,180	8.6%
total	164,019	100%

See also

• Provinces of Bulgaria
• Municipalities of Bulgaria
• List of cities and towns in Bulgaria
• List of villages in Kardzhali Province

References

На других языках

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- [en] Kardzhali Province

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[ru] Кырджалийская область

Кы́рджалийская о́бласть (болг. Област Кърджали) — область на юге Болгарии.

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