Lovech Province

Lovech • Apriltsi • Troyan • Teteven • Lukovit • Ugarchin • Letnitsa • Yablanitsa Municipalities within Lovech Province with their main towns

Lovech Province (Bulgarian: Област Ловеч, transliterated Oblast Lovech, former name Lovech okrug) is one of the 28 provinces of Bulgaria, lying at the northern centre of the country. It is named after its main city - Lovech. As of December 2009, the population of the area is 151,153.

Population

The Lovech province had a population of 169,951 according to a 2001 census, of which 7001491000000000000♠49.1% were male and 7001509000000000000♠50.9% were female. As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 151,153 of which 7001294000000000000♠29.4% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.

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

Lovech Province Year 1946 1956 1965 1975 1985 1992 2001 2005 2007 2009 2011 Population 217,203 214,213 217,342 216,844 202,968 190,262 169,951 160,202 156,437 151,153 141 422 Sources: National Statistical Institute, „Census 2001“, „Census 2011“, „pop-stat.mashke.org“,??

Ethnic groups

Ethnic groups in Lovech Province (2011 census) Ethnic group Percentage Bulgarians   90.9% Gypsies   4.4% Turks   3.3% others and indefinable   1.4% Religions in Lovech Province (2001 census) Religious group Percentage Orthodox Christian   86.4% Muslim   6.2% Protestant Christian   0.5% Roman Catholic Christian   0.2% others and indefinable   6.7%

Total population (2011 census): 141 422
Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 130 180 persons:

• Bulgarians: 118 346 (90,91%)
• Gypsies: 5 705 (4,38%)
• Turks: 4 337 (3,33%)
• Others and indefinable: 1 792 (1,38%)

A further 11,000 persons in the Province did not declare their ethnic group at the 2011 census

In the 2001 census, 167,877 people of the population of 169,951 of Lovech Province identified themselves as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups (with percentage of total population):

Ethnic group Population Percentage Bulgarian 152,194 7001895520000000000♠89.552% Turkish 8,476 7000498700000000000♠4.987% Roma (Gypsy) 6,316 7000371600000000000♠3.716% Russian 269 6999158000000000000♠0.158% Armenian 12 6997700000000000000♠0.007% Vlachs 458 6999269000000000000♠0.269% Macedonian 7 6997400000000000000♠0.004% Greek 21 6998120000000000000♠0.012% Ukrainian 29 6998170000000000000♠0.017% Jewish 1 6997100000000000000♠0.001% Romanian 3 6997200000000000000♠0.002% Other 91 6998540000000000000♠0.054%

Language

In the 2001 census, 168,307 people of the population of 169,951 of Lovech Province identified one of the following as their mother tongue (with percentage of total population): 154,157 Bulgarian (7001907000000000000♠90.7%), 6,994 Turkish (7000410009999999999♠4.1%), 6,033 Roma (Gypsy) (7000350000000000000♠3.5%), and 1,123 other (6999700000000000000♠0.7%).

Religion

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:

Census 2001 religious adherence population % Orthodox Christians 146,778 86.36% Muslims 10,501 6.18% Protestants 879 0.52% Roman Catholics 366 0.22% Other 688 0.40% Religion not mentioned 10,739 6.32% total 169,951 100%