Pleven Oblast

Pleven Province (Област Плевен or Plevenska Oblast Плевенска Област, former name Pleven okrug) 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 4,333.54 km² with a population, as of February 2011, of 266 144 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 (oбласт, oblast) contains 11 municipalities (singular: oбщина, obshtina - plural: oбщини, 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.

Demography
According to the 2001 census, the population of the province was 311,985 (312,018 also given) of which Bulgarians constitute an overwhelming majority of 280,475. 16,931 signed as Turks (though this number very likely also includes many Roma) and 9,777 as Roma. 283,626 people specified Bulgarian as their mother tongue, 14,947 declared to speak Turkish at home, while the native speakers of Roma are 8,861.

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.

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

Religion
Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census: