Administrative-territorial and territorial division of the Republic of Bulgaria - 2025

As of 31 December 2025, the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria was administratively divided into 28 administrative districts and 265 municipalities, within which there were 3 041 individual mayoralties. In addition, the municipality of Sofia and the cities of Plovdiv and Varna were subdivided into composite territorial administration units (quarters): the capital municipality (Stolichna) - into 24 quarters, Plovdiv - into 6 quarters, Varna - into 5 quarters.

As of 31 December 2025, there were 5 256 settlements in the Republic of Bulgaria, of which 257 towns and 4 999 villages, while the settlement formations were 168 (including 8 of national and 160 of local importance).

According to the requirements of the Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) applied by the European Union, the territory of the country is divided into statistical regions with 3 hierarchical levels.

The upper two levels: NUTS1 - statistical zones, and NUTS2 - statistical regions, are not considered as administrative-territorial units, while the level NUTS3 - districts, is defined as an administrative-territorial level, which corresponds to the 28 administrative districts. NUTS3 regions and the 28 administrative districts have the same names.

Amendments to the Unified classifier of administrative-territorial and territorial units (EKATTE) during the period from 1 January to 31.12.2025:

• By Decision No. 510 of November 14, 2024, the Municipal Council of Sliven, Sliven district, creates a new settlement entity of local importance - the resort 'Daulite', in the territory of the city of Sliven, Sliven municipality, Sliven district (SG, issue 52 of 27.06.2025);
• By Decision No. 511 of November 14, 2024, the municipal Council of Sliven, Sliven district, creates a new settlement entity of local importance - the resort 'Karandila', in the territory of the city of Sliven, Sliven municipality, Sliven district (SG, issue 52 of 27.06.2025);
• By decree of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria, published in the SG, issue 112 of 19.12.2025, the village of Stefan Stambolovo (UCATTU - 17467), Polski Trambesh municipality, Veliko Tarnovo district, was renamed the village of Gradina (UCATTU - 17467).

1. Administrative districts in the Republic of Bulgaria as of the end of 2025

The average area of a single administrative district in the Republic of Bulgaria was 3 964 sq. kilometres. The largest administrative districts by territory were Burgas, Sofia, Blagoevgrad and Plovdiv, while the smallest were Pernik, Gabrovo and Sofia (stolitsa). The smallest district in terms of territory - Sofia (stolitsa), was also the largest by population with 1 303 813 inhabitants and the only one with more than 1 000 000 inhabitants. The smallest administrative district by population was Vidin, with 69 465 inhabitants.

Figure 1. Administrative districts in the Republic of Bulgaria as of the end of 2025

2. Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria as of 31.12.2025
   

On the other hand, the smallest municipality in the country is Chelopech (Sofia district). Also, 10 other municipalities have a territory of less than 100 sq. km - Nikolaevo (Stara Zagora district), Yambol, Anton (Sofia district), Chavdar (Sofia district), Dolna Banya (Sofia district), Stamboliyski (Plovdiv district), Beloslav (Varna district), Sopot (Plovdiv district), Krichim (Plovdiv district) and Perushtitsa (Plovdiv district).

At the end of 2025, 147 out of the total 265 municipalities in the country had a population of below 10 000 inhabitants. The share of their population was just 12.5% of the total country’s population. The smallest municipality was Treklyano (Kyustendil district) with 495 inhabitants, followed by Boynitsa municipality (Vidin district) with a population of 694.

The largest municipality in Bulgaria by population size was Stolichna municipality. Another group of 7 municipalities had a population above 100 000 inhabitants - Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Ruse, Sliven and Pleven. The share of the population in these 8 municipalities represents 41.4% of the total country’s population.

On average, the area of one municipality in Bulgaria is 419 sq. kilometres. The largest municipality by area is the municipality of Sliven. Besides Sliven, there are only 7 more municipalities with a territory above 1 000 sq. km - Stolichna, Dobrich-selska, Tundzha (Yambol district), Samokov (Sofia district), Sredets (Burgas district), Stara Zagora and Karlovo (Plovdiv district).

On the territory of 9 municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria - Plovdiv, Dobrich, Yambol, Krichim, Perushtitsa, Koprivshtitsa, Chelopech, Anton and Chavdar - there is only one settlement, which is also the municipal centre.

3. Composite territorial administration units (quarters):

• Quarters - 35 (in Stolichna municipality and in the cities of Plovdiv and Varna);
• Mayoralties - 3.

The population of the capital municipality (Stolichna) is unevenly distributed across its quarters. By the end of 2025, two of them - Mladost and Lyulin, were home to 15.5% of the population of Stolichna municipality, with over 100 000 people living in each of these quarters. The smallest quarter in Stolichna Municipality was Bankya, with a population of 11 414 people, or 0.9% of the municipality’s population.

The population of the city of Plovdiv was spread more evenly by quarters, with 11.1% for the Zapaden and 22.5% for the Yuzhen quarter.

The population distribution in the quarters of the city of Varna ranged from 7.0% for the Asparuhovo quarter to 32.7% for the Primorski - the only quarter of Varna with a population of over 100 000 people.

4. Territorial units in the Republic of Bulgaria as of 31.12.2025:

• Settlements - 5 256 (incl. 257 towns and 4 999 villages);
• Settlement formations - 168 (incl. 8 of national and 160 of regional/local importance).

At the end of 2025, there were 192 settlements without population. The highest number of settlements without population was in the districts of Veliko Tarnovo (63), Gabrovo (60), Blagoevgrad (9), Kardzhali (9), Kyustendil (9), Sofia (9), Smolyan (8), Stara Zagora (7) and Haskovo (7). In 1 280 villages, or 24.4% of the settlements, the population number was between 1 and 49 persons. There were six towns with population of more than 100 thousand persons, and 35.8% of the country’s population lives there.

5. Territorial Units for Statistics as of 31.12.2025
   

   According to the requirements of the common Classification of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) applied by the European Union, the following levels have been defined:

• NUTS0 - the country level;
• NUTS1 - 2 statistical zones;
• NUTS2 - 6 statistical regions;
• NUTS3 - 28 districts.

Figure 6. Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) in the Republic of Bulgaria

Methodological notes

Definitions

The district shall consist of one or more neighbouring municipalities. The territory of the district shall consist of the territory of the municipalities included into it. The name of the district shall be the name of the settlement, which is its administrative centre (Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, Art. 4).

The municipality consists of one or more neighbouring settlements. The territory of the municipality shall consist of the territories of the settlements included into it. The name of the municipality shall be the name of the settlement, which is its administrative centre (Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, Art. 7).

A mayoralty is a settlement with a population of over 100 people with a permanent address (Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, Art. 14). The territory of the mayoralty is the territory of the settlement. The name of the mayoralty shall be the name of the settlement, which is its administrative centre. (Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, Art. 15).

A settlement is a historically and functionally separated territory, defined by the presence of a permanent resident population, a built-up area or a built-up area and land-use area and the required social and engineering infrastructure. The settlements are specified as towns and villages and shall be subject to registration in the Unified classifier of administrative-territorial and territorial units.

A settlement formation is a territory outside the built-up areas of existing settlements that does not have a permanent resident population and has specific functions, determined by its construction boundaries. The settlement formations are of national and local importance. The Council of Ministers shall determine the settlement formations of national importance.

Data sources

Data source for the administrative-territorial division of the country is the National Register of the Settlements, maintained by NSI: https://www.nsi.bg/nrnm/.

Data source for the territory in sq. km is the National Agency for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre.

The source of data on population numbers is the Information System Demography of NSI.

Computation methods

The number of administrative-territorial and territorial units is calculated based on the data in the National Register of the Settlements as of 31 December of the reference year. The data is entered into the Register after the promulgation of a decree by the President of the Republic of Bulgaria related to administrative-territorial changes in the country.

The population density is calculated by the total area of the territorial administration units and the population number as of 31 December 2024.

Territory by sq. km is calculated based on the digital cadastral map as of 31.12.2023 using GIS tools and the BGS2005 UTM35N coordinate system.

The population number as of 31 December is calculated based on the population data for the previous year, adjusted by the data on the natural population change and the net migration during the reference year.

More data on population numbers and structures are available here: https://www.nsi.bg/en/statistical-data/142.

Legal basis

Article 135 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria (SG, No. 56/1991) determines that the territory of the country is divided into municipalities and districts.

In 1991, The Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration (SG, No. 77/1991) determines the rules to be used by the citizens to solve different issues through the local authorities.

In 1995, the Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act was adopted, which regulates the public relationships connected with local self-government and local administration (SG, No. 63/1995).

The territorial division of the capital municipality and of the cities with a population over 300 000 is established by the Law on the Administrative Division of Sofia Municipality and Large Cities (SG, No. 66/1995). It also provides the names and the boundaries of the quarters of Sofia municipality, the cities of Plovdiv and Varna.

The territory of the country is divided into 28 districts (according to the amendment of the Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act, SG, No. 154/1998). The borders and their administrative centres have been approved by Decree № 1 of the President of the Republic of Bulgaria (SG, No. 2/1999) following the proposal of the Council of Ministers.

The text of Art. 12 of the Law on Local Self-Government and Local Administration was amended in 2006 as follows: ‘The name of the municipality is the name of the settlement, which is its administrative centre, except for the municipalities as found by the law, where the administrative centres are settlements outside their territory, shared as such with other municipalities’. In addition to the case of Dobrich-selska (with administrative centre Dobrich), this applies also to 3 other municipalities in the country - Maritsa, Rodopi (with administrative centre Plovdiv), and Tundzha (with administrative centre Yambol).

As defined by the Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act (Art. 37), NSI maintains the Unified Classifier of Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units (UCATTU) and the National Register of Settlements. The content of the UCATTU and the Register, as well as the corresponding criteria and indicators, are approved by the Council of Ministers based on the proposal of the NSI and the other stakeholders.

The content of the UCATTU was approved by Decision № 565 of the Council of Ministers of 10 August 1999 (SG, No. 73/1999) and it covers all administrative-territorial and territorial units defined by the Territorial Administration of the Republic of Bulgaria Act. Each of them has an identification code in UCATTU.

The content of the National Register of the Settlements was approved by Decision № 695 of Council of Ministers, taken on 29 September 2006. The National Register of the Settlements aims to monitor the development and changes in the administrative-territorial and territorial units (establishing, merging, division, accession, closing down).

Regulation (EC) № 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and the Council establishing a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS) was adopted of 26 May 2003. The purpose of the Regulation is to enable the collection, compilation and dissemination of harmonised regional statistics in the Community. Following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union in 2007, Regulation (EC) № 176/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council amended the Annexes to Regulation № 1059/2003 of 20 February 2008 with the new Member States.

More information on the NUTS is available on the website of NSI.

Annex

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^* ЕКАТТЕ - Unified classifier of administrative-territorial and territorial units (UCATTU); territory is calculated based on the digital cadastral map of the country as of 31.12.2024; the number of villages includes Rila monastery (Kyustendil district) and Klisura monastery (Montana district), which have settlement status.

^* As of 31.12.2025, 6.0% (77 365 persons) of the total population of the municipality were not assigned to any of the quarters due to incorrect or incomplete address information.

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^* As of 31.12.2025, 4.6% (15 057 persons) of the total population of the city of Plovdiv were not assigned to any of the quarters due to incorrect or incomplete address information.

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^* As of 31.12.2025, 5.6% (17 690 persons) of the total population of the city of Varna were not assigned to any of the quarters due to incorrect or incomplete address information.

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^* IYC - International Youth Center.