Kardzhali Province ( bg, Област Кърджали, Oblast Kărdžali, tr, Kırcaali ili) is a

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 ...

of southern

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 ...

, neighbouring

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

with the Greek regional units of

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

Rhodope Rhodope may refer to: * Rhodope (mythology), a figure of Greek mythology * Rhodope Mountains, in Bulgaria and Greece * Rhodope (regional unit) Rhodope ( el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodópi'' ) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the reg ...

, and Evros to the south and east. It is 3209.1 km² in area. Its main city is

Kardzhali Kardzhali ( bg, Кърджали , ''Kărdžali''; tr, Kırcaali; gr, Κάρτζαλι, ''Kártzali''), sometimes spelt Kardžali or Kurdzhali, is a town in the Eastern Rhodopes in Bulgaria, centre of Kardzhali Municipality and Kardzhali Provi ...

History

The territory of Kardzhali province was acquired by Bulgaria during the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War ( sr, Први балкански рат, ''Prvi balkanski rat''; bg, Балканска война; el, Αʹ Βαλκανικός πόλεμος; tr, Birinci Balkan Savaşı) lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and invo ...

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 Stara Zagora ( bg, Област Стара Загора), formerly known as the Stara Zagora okrug, is a province of south-central Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Stara Zagora—the sixt ...

from 1934 until 1949, then it was transferred to the newly formed

Haskovo Haskovo ( bg, Хасково ) is a city in the region of Northern Thrace in southern Bulgaria and the administrative centre of the Haskovo Province, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. According to Operative Program Regional Develo ...

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 Haskovo Province ( bg, Област Хасково - ''Oblast Haskovo'', former name ''Haskovo okrug'') is a province in southern Bulgaria, neighbouring Greece and Turkey to the southeast, comprising parts of the Thracian valley along the river ...

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

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

Population

Kardzhali 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 149,661 according to the provisional results of the 2011

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 ...

.Bulgarian National Statistical Institute - 2011 census

/ref>Population by 01.02.2011 by Area and Sex
fro
Bulgarian ''National Statistical Institute'': Preliminary results of Census 2011
/ref> 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 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): 152,808
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 130,781 persons: *

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

: 86,527 (66.16%) *

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 ...

: 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):

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 A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

(with percentage of total population): * 101,548 Turkish () * 57,046

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

() * 1,171

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 ...

() * 402 other ().

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 The Bulgarian Muslims or Muslim Bulgarians ( bg, Българи-мохамедани, ''Bǎlgari-mohamedani'', as of recently also Българи-мюсюлмани, ''Bǎlgari-mjusjulmani'', locally called '' Pomak'', ''ahryan'', ''poganets'', ' ...

, 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 Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

(with percentage of total population):Religious adherence in Bulgaria - census 2001

References

{{Authority control 1999 establishments in Bulgaria States and territories established in 1999 Provinces of Bulgaria Turkish communities outside Turkey