Provinces of Bulgaria

The provinces of Bulgaria (Bulgarian: области на България, romanized: oblasti na Bǎlgariya) are the first-level administrative subdivisions of the country.

Since 1999, Bulgaria has been divided into 28 provinces (Bulgarian: области – oblasti; singular: област – oblast; also translated as "regions") which correspond approximately to the 28 districts (in Bulgarian: окръг – okrǎg, plural: окръзи – okrǎzi), that existed before 1987.

The provinces are further subdivided into 265 municipalities (singular: община – obshtina, plural: общини – obshtini).

The provinces do not have official names – legally (in the President's decree on their constitution[clarification needed]), they are not named but only described as "oblast with administrative centre [Noun]" – together with a list of the constituting municipalities.

In 1987, the then-existing 28 districts (okrags) were transformed into 9 large units (in Bulgarian called oblasts – provinces), which survived until 1999.

Distribution of provinces by NUTS : Level 1 (regions): North Eastern, North Central, North Western, South Central, South Eastern, South Western ; Level 2 (planning regions)
Provinces (with ex-districts) in 1987–1999
Provinces of Bulgaria from 1987 to 1998