Pleven Province

Pleven Province (Област Плевен or Плевенска Област) is a province located in central northern Bulgaria, bordering the Danube river, Romania and the Bulgarian provinces of Vratsa, Veliko Tarnovo and Lovech. It is divided into 11 subdivisions, called municipalities, that embrace a territory of 4,653.32 km2 with a population, as of February 2011, of 269 752 inhabitants. The province's capital is the city of Pleven.

Naming
The following Bulgarian terms may be used:
 * Плевенска област (Plevenska oblast)
 * Област Плевен (Oblast Pleven)
 * Плевенски окръг (Plevenski okrag), obsolete
 * Окръг Плевен (Okrag Pleven), obsolete

Geography
The province is part of the central Danubian Plain. It is crossed from south to north by the rivers Iskar, Vit, and Osam (in west-east order); the river valleys are separated by limestone plateaus.

Municipalities
The Pleven province (област, oblast) contains 11 municipalities (община - plural: общини). 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.

Demographics
As of February 2011, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 266 144 of which 28.4% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.

Ethnic groups
Total population (2011 census): 269,752

Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves 240,265 persons: A further 30,000 persons in Pleven Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census.
 * Bulgarians: 219,612 (91,40%)
 * Romani: 9,961 (4,15%)
 * Turks: 8,666 (3,61%)
 * Others and indefinable: 2,026 (0,84%)

According to the 2001 census, the population of the province was 312,018, of which Bulgarians constitute an overwhelming majority of 280,475. 16,931 signed as Turks (though this number very likely also includes Muslim Roma) and 9,777 as Roma.

Languages
According to the 2001 census 283,626 people specified Bulgarian as their mother tongue, 14,947 declared to speak Turkish at home, while the native speakers of Romani were 8,861.

Religion
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census: