Montana Province (, transliterated: Oblast Montana) is a province in northwestern Bulgaria, bordering Serbia in the southwest and Romania in the north. It spreads its area between the Danube river and the Balkan Mountains. As of February 2011, the province had a population of 148,098, on territory of 3,635.5 km2. It was named after its administrative centre the city of Montana.

Municipalities

The Montana province (Област, oblast) contains 11 municipalities (singular: община, obshtina - plural: Общини, obshtini). The following table shows the names of each municipality in English and in Cyrillic, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population as of 2011.

Demographics

The Montana province had a population of 148,098 according to a 2011 census, of which 49.2% were male and 50.8% were female. As of the end of 2009, the population of the province, announced by the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute, numbered 155,899 of which 30.5% are inhabitants aged over 60 years.

Ethnic groups

Total population (2011 census): 148 098 Ethnic groups (2011 census): Identified themselves: 143 467 persons: In the 2001 census, 181,175 people of the population of 182,258 of Montana Province identified themselves as belonging to one of the following ethnic groups (with percentage of total population):

Language

In the 2001 census, 181,208 people of the population of 182,258 of Montana Province identified one of the following as their mother tongue (with percentage of total population): 160,494 Bulgarian (88.1%), 19,849 Romani (10.9%), 220 Turkish (0.1%), and 645 other (0.4%).

Religion

In the 2011 census, 136,175 people of the population of 148,098 of Montana Province identified one of the following as their religion: In the 2001 census, 172,358 people of the population of 182,258 of Montana Province identified one of the following as their religion:

Towns and villages

The place names in bold have the status of town (in Bulgarian: град, transliterated as grad). Other localities have the status of village (in Bulgarian: село, transliterated as selo). The names of localities are transliterated in Latin alphabet, followed in parentheses by the original name in Bulgarian Cyrillic alphabet which links to the corresponding Bulgarian Wikipedia article).

Berkovitsa (Берковица)

The Berkovitsa municipality has one town (in bold) and 19 villages:

Boychinovtsi (Бойчиновци)

The Boychinovtsi municipality has one town (in bold) and 12 villages:

Brusartsi (Брусарци)

The Brusartsi municipality has one town (in bold) and nine villages:

Chiprovtsi (Чипровци)

The Chiprovtsi municipality has one town (in bold) and nine villages:

Georgi Damyanovo (Георги Дамяново)

The Georgi Damyanovo municipality has 13 villages:

Lom (Лом)

The Lom municipality has one town (in bold) and nine villages:

Medkovets (Медковец)

The Medkovets municipality has five villages:

Montana (Монтана)

The Montana municipality has one town (in bold) and 23 villages:

Valchedram (Вълчедръм)

The Valchedram municipality has one town (in bold) and ten villages:

Varshets (Вършец)

The Varshets municipality has one town (in bold), eight villages and one monastery (which has official status as a locality ):

Yakimovo (Якимово)

The Yakimovo municipality has four villages: