Familypedia
Advertisement
Smolyan Oblast
Област Смолян
Oblast (Province)
The Miraculous bridges
The Miraculous bridges
Location of Smolyan Oblast in Bulgaria
Location of Smolyan Oblast in Bulgaria
Country Bulgaria
Oblast capital Smolyan
Obshtinas (Communes) Banite, Borino,
Government
 • Governor Stefan Staykov
Area
 • Total
3,192.8 km2 (1,232.7 sq mi)


Smolyan Oblast (province) (Bulgarian: Област Смолян - Oblast Smolyan, former name Smolyan okrug) is an oblast in Southern-central Bulgaria, located in the Rhodope Mountains, neighbouring Greece to the south. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre - the city of Smolyan. The oblasts coveres a territory of 3,192.8 km²[1] that is divided into 10 Obshtinas (communes) with a total population of 124,795 inhabitants, as of December 2009.[2][3][4]

Obshtinas[]

Smolian Oblast map

Municipalities of Smolyan province

Smolyan Oblast (Област, oblast) contains 10 obshtinas (communes) [5] (singular: oбщина, obshtina - plural: Общини, obshtini). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and Cyrillic, the main town or village (towns are shown in bold), and the population of each as of December 2009.

Obshtina (Commune) Cyrillic Pop.[2][3][4] Town/Village Pop.[6][3][7][8][9]
Banite Баните 4,972 Banite 1,047
Borino Борино 3,618 Borino 2,516
Chepelare Чепеларе 8,045 Chepelare 5,412
Devin Девин 13,204 Devin 7,054
Dospat Доспат 9,526 Dospat 2,604
Madan Мадан 12,606 Madan 6,007
Nedelino Неделино 7,577 Nedelino 4,641
Rudozem Рудозем 9,801 Rudozem 3,583
Smolyan Смолян 43,186 Smolyan 31,718
Zlatograd Златоград 12,260 Zlatograd 7,110

Demography[]

Smolyan Oblast had a population of 140,066[10][11] according to the 2001 census, of which 48.8% were male and 51.2% were female.[12] As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 124,795[2] of which 23.4% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.[13]

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

Haskovo Oblast
Year 1946 1956 1965 1975 1985 1992 2001 2005 2007 2009 2011
Population 111,193 145,072 160,255 156,157 158,011 154,553 140,066 131,010 128,200 124,795 120,567
Sources: National Statistical Institute,[2] „Census 2001“,[3] „Census 2011“,[4] „pop-stat.mashke.org“,??


Religion[]

Smolyan Oblast along with the Kardzhali Oblast is a province where the predominant religion is not Orthodox Christianity but Islam. However, unlike Kardzhali where the majority of the population is Turkish, the Muslim population of the Smolyan province is made up almost entirely of Muslim Bulgarians.

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:[14]

Census 2001
religious adherence population %
Orthodox Christians 41,599 29.70%
Muslims 58,758 41.95%
Roman Catholics 100 0.07%
Protestants 93 0.06%
Other 513 0.37%
Religion not mentioned 39,003 27.85%
total 140,066 100%

Language[]

In the 2001 census, 135,761 people from the Smolyan oblast identified one of the following as their mother tongue (with percentage of total population): 129,181 Bulgarian (92.2%), 5,782 Turkish (4.1%), 532 Gypsy (0.4%) and 266 other (0.2%).[10]

Ethnic groups[]

In the 2001 census, 132,654 people from the Smolyan province identified themselves as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups (with percentage of total population):[11]

Ethnic group Population Percentage
Bulgarian 122,806 87.677%
Turkish 6,212 4.435%
Gypsies 686 0.49%
Russian 111 0.079%
Armenian 42 0.03%
Greek 13 0.009%
Ukrainian 27 0.019%
Jewish 1 0.001%
Romanian 1 0.001%
Other 55 0.039%

Economy[]

The economy of the oblast is based on tourism, mining, timber and machine industries and livestock raising. The main crops of the region are potatoes (about 30% of the national production), rye and barley; but sheep, pigs and cattle are of greater importance for the agriculture. In the eastern parts of the province are located more than 20 lead and zinc mines, which form one of the most extensive ore deposits in the Balkans. The dense coniferous forests are prerequisite for well developed timber industry in Dospat, Smolyan, Devin. In Smolyan there are big plants producing machine tools and other machinery, while textile industry is mainly developed to the east in Nedelino, Zlatograd, Madan and Rudozem. There is also a synthetic rubber plant in Madan.

Nowadays, tourism is the backbone of the economy, especially in winter due to the excellent ski resorts of Pamporovo and Chepelare; having been completely renovated and modernized. The only factory for skiing equipment is located in Chepelare and employs 400 people. The mineral springs in Devin and Beden are very popular among tourists. The beautiful, unspoilt nature and the spectacular gorges, rock bridges and caves attract many people from around the country as well as foreign tourists, while the numerous dams are popular with campers and fishermen.

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Smolyan Oblast. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
Advertisement