Smolyan Oblast

Smolyan Province (Област Смолян - Oblast Smolyan, former name Smolyan okrug) is a province 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 province embraces a territory of 3,192.8 km² that is divided into 10 municipalities with a total population of 124,795 inhabitants, as of December 2009.

Municipalities


The Smolyan province (Област, oblast) contains 10 municipalities (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.

Demography


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

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

Religion
The Smolyan province along with the Kardzhali Province 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:

Language
In the 2001 census, 135,761 people from the Smolyan province 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 Roma (Gypsy) (0.4%) and 266 other (0.2%).

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):

Economy
The economy of the province 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.