Vidin Province () is the northwesternmost

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. It borders

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

to the west and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

to the northeast. Its administrative centre is the city of

Vidin Vidin ( bg, Видин, ; Old Romanian: Diiu) is a port city on the southern bank of the Danube in north-western Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Romania and Serbia, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as o ...

on the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

river. The area is divided into 11 municipalities. As of December 2009, the province has a population of 108,067 inhabitants.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Bulgarian provinces and municipalities in 2009
/ref>
/ref>
/ref> There are remains of many castles, including

Baba Vida Baba Vida ( bg, Баба Вида) is a medieval castle in Vidin in northwestern Bulgaria and the town's primary landmark. It consists of two concentric curtain walls and about nine towers of which three are preserved to their full medieval heig ...

, one of the last Bulgarian strongholds during the Ottoman invasion and the Belogradchik fortress.

Municipalities

The Vidin Province contains 11 municipalities (singular: община, ''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 of each as of December 2009.

Geography

The territory of the province includes the most western parts of the Danubian Plain and Stara Planina, while the

forms the border with

. The slopes of Stara Planina are covered with dense forests, lush meadows and boasts the majestic rock phenomena, the

Belogradchik Rocks The Belogradchik Rocks ( bg, Белоградчишки скали, ''Belogradchishki skali'') are a group of strangely shaped sandstone and Conglomerate (geology), conglomerate rock formations located on the western slopes of the Balkan Mountains ...

. There are around 80

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

s situated close to the border with

, the most famous being the

Magura Cave The Magura Cave (Bulgarian "пещера Магура") is located in north-western Bulgaria close to the village of Rabisha, from the town of Belogradchik in Vidin Province. The prehistoric wall paintings of Magura have great resemblance with t ...

, which known with its cave painting from 10,000 BC. There is also a lake in the proximity of the cave.

Population

The Vidin province had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 130,074 according to a 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, of which were

male Male (symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or ovum, in the process of fertilization. A male organism cannot reproduce sexually without access to ...

and were

female Female (Venus symbol, symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ovum, ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the Sperm, male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gamet ...

.Population to 01.03.2001 by Area and Sex
fro

/ref> As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 108,067 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - Population by age in 2009
Vidin is the oldest province in Bulgaria, with 28.9% of its population 65 years or older at the end of 2016. There is a big difference between the percentage elderly living in urban and rural areas: in urban areas 21.1% of the population is 65 years or older while that percentage is 42.8% in rural areas. The percentage of children up to 15 years is 13.5% in urban areas and only 9.8% in rural areas. The following table represents the change of the population in the province after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Ethnic groups

Total population (2011 census): 101 018 Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 95 126 persons: *

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

: 86 802 (91,25%) *

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

: 7 282 (7,66%) *Others and indefinable: 1 042 ( 1,10 % )

Religion

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:

Towns and villages

The place names in bold have the status of

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

(in Bulgarian: град, transliterated as ''grad''). Other localities have the status of

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

(in Bulgarian: село, transliterated as ''selo''). The names of localities are transliterated in

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet or Roman alphabet is the collection of letters originally used by the ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered with the exception of extensions (such as diacritics), it used to write English and the o ...

Geonames Search
at

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is a combat support agency within the United States Department of Defense whose primary mission is collecting, analyzing, and distributing geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) in support of national ...

(NGA) - reference for location names followed in parentheses by the original name in Bulgarian

Cyrillic alphabet , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

(which links to the corresponding Bulgarian Wikipedia article).

Belogradchik Municipality Belogradchik Municipality ( bg, Община Белоградчик) is a municipality ('' obshtina'') in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located in the western parts of the so-called Fore-Balkan area. It is named after its administrative ...

The Belogradchik municipality has one town (in bold) and 17 villages:

Boynitsa Municipality Boynitsa Municipality ( bg, Община Бойница) is a small frontier municipality ('' obshtina'') in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located in the Danubian Plain about 20 km southwest of Danube river. It is named after its ad ...

The Boynitsa municipality has 9 villages:

Bregovo Municipality

The Bregovo municipality has one town (in bold) and 9 villages:

Vidin Municipality Vidin Municipality ( bg, Община Видин) is a municipality ('' obshtina'') in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located along the right bank of Danube river in the Danubian Plain. It is named after its administrative centre - the ci ...

The Vidin municipality has two towns (in bold) and 33 villages:

Gramada Municipality

The Gramada municipality has one town (in bold) and 7 villages:

Dimovo Municipality Dimovo Municipality ( bg, Община Димово) is a municipality ('' obshtina'') in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located along the right bank of Danube river in the Danubian Plain. It is named after its administrative centre - the ...

The Dimovo municipality has one town (in bold) and 22 villages:

Chuprene Municipality Chuprene Municipality ( bg, Община Чупрене) is a frontier municipality ('' obshtina'') in Vidin Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located in the vicinity of the western parts of Stara Planina range in the so-called Fore-Balkan area. ...

The Chuprene municipality has 9 villages:

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Provinces of Bulgaria