Velingrad Municipality

Velingrad Municipality is the largest municipality in Pazardzhik Province, Bulgaria. The municipality consists of its capital, Velingrad as well as two villages, with a total population of 40,595.
The municipality of Velingrad is mostly inhabited by ethnic Bulgarians, which are Orthodox and Muslim by religion.

Demographic situation

The municipality of Velingrad has relatively favourable demographic indicators compared with the rest of Bulgaria. Nevertheless, the number of births dropped sharply while the number of deaths remained fairly constant. This led to a negative natural growth rate.

	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural growth	Birth rate	Death rate	Natural growth rate
2000	43,591	502	495	+7	11.5	11.4	+0.1
2001	42,665	454	423	+31	10.6	9.9	+0.7
2002	42,416	426	425	+1	10.0	10.0	+0.0
2003	42,306	440	478	-38	10.4	11.3	-0.9
2004	42,029	456	497	-41	10.8	11.8	-1.0
2005	41,906	455	481	-26	10.9	11.5	-0.6
2006	41,899	493	496	-3	11.8	11.9	-0.1
2007	41,753	487	483	+4	11.7	11.6	+0.1
2008	41,718	506	482	+24	12.1	11.6	+0,6
2009	41,613	514	510	+4	12.4	12.3	+0.1
2010	41,366	474	487	-13	11.5	11.8	-0.3
2011	40,595	462	478	-16	11.4	11.8	-0.4
2012	40,390	451	486	-35	11.2	12.0	-0.8
2013	40,148	415	484	-69	10.3	12.1	-1.7
2014	39,785	409	535	-126	10.3	13.4	-3.2
2015	34,511	354	496	-142	10.3	14.4	-4.1
2016	34,281	361	480	-119	10.5	14.0	-3.5
2017	34,045	357	489	-132	10.5	14.4	-3.9
2018	33,787	366	480	-114	10.8	14.2	-3.4

Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:
The municipality of Velingrad is nearly equally divided between believers belonging to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and Islam. Most Christians live in the town of Velingrad, while the Muslims live in mountainous villages.