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.

The Shumen Province contains 10 municipalities (singular: община, obshtina - plural: общини, obshtini).

The following table shows each municipality's name in English and Cyrillic, main town (in bold) or village, and population as of December 2009.

[10] As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 194,090[2] of which 22.7% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.

Self-identified ethnic group according to the 2001 census (204,378 people out of the total population of 204,395, with percentage of total population):[13] Religious adherence in the province according to 2001 census:[14] Shumen lies on the main route between Varna and Sofia and is served by numerous trains and buses serving the city.