Shumen Province

Shumen Province is a province in northeastern Bulgaria named after its main city Shumen. It is divided into ten municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 194,090 inhabitants.

The Main City

The city of Shumen is famous in the region for the Monument to 1300 Years of Bulgaria. The monument is in the cubist style and is 1300 steps above the center of the town. Other places of note are the Shumen fortress, Tombul Mosque, and Shumen Plato National park. The center of the town has a historical museum, large library, and large theater. The municipality building, also in the center, has a concert hall that features regular symphony performances. Shumen is also the location of the Shumensko Brewery, a popular beer in Bulgaria. The area surrounding Shumen plays a significant part in Bulgarian History with the first and second capitols of historical Bulgaria within thirty kilometers from the city.

Municipalities

The Shumen Province contains 10 municipalities. The following table shows each municipality's name in English and Cyrillic, main town or village, and population as of December 2009.

Municipality	Cyrillic	Pop.	Town/Village	Pop.
Venets	Венец	6,905	Venets	725
Varbitsa	Върбица	10,492	Varbitsa	3,585
Hitrino	Хитрино	6,423	Hitrino	715
Kaolinovo	Каолиново	12,251	Kaolinovo	1,538
Kaspichan	Каспичан	8,871	Kaspichan	3,260
Nikola Kozlevo	Никола Козлево	6,381	Nikola Kozlevo	789
Novi Pazar	Нови Пазар	18,476	Novi Pazar	12,673
Veliki Preslav	Велики Преслав	15,292	Veliki Preslav	8,951
Smyadovo	Смядово	7,402	Smyadovo	4,036
Shumen	Шумен	101,597	Shumen	86,824

Demographics

The Shumen province had a population of 204,395 according to a 2001 census, of which were male and were female.
As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 194,090 of which are inhabitants aged over 60 years.

Ethnic groups

Total population : 180,528
By self-identified ethnicity :

Bulgarians: 99,446
Turks: 50,878
Romani: 13,847
Others and indefinable: 3,781

A further 12,000 people did not declare their ethnic group.
Self-identified ethnic group according to the 2001 census :

Bulgarians: 123,084
Turks: 59,551
Romani: 16,457
Religion

Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:

Transportation

Shumen lies on the main route between Varna and Sofia and is served by numerous trains and buses serving the city.