There are 257 cities in Bulgaria, while the number of villages is as many as 5,000, of which, however, 592 are uninhabited, depopulated or with a single-digit number of inhabitants, and almost 1,800 are villages with less than 100 people, according to data from the National Register of Settlements of the NSI at the end of last year. Against the background of depopulation, an interesting and unexpected trend is observed – a number of villages acquire the status of cities, despite the small number of inhabitants. The reasons for this are most likely rooted not only in the tradition left over from the time of the communist regime for the home villages of the heads of state to acquire city status, as happened with cities such as Loznica, Bankia, Pravets and others, but probably also because this increases the chance them to attract investors, to mark progress and development, to develop their regions and not to become depopulated. Thus, 16 new cities have appeared on the map of Bulgaria in the last 20 years alone, although they, like the situation throughout the country, have seen negative natural growth and although the population of the villages is progressively decreasing. What are the newest cities in Bulgaria and what determines their transformation into cities?
The newest cities in Bulgaria for recent years
16 Bulgarian villages received the status of cities in the last 20 years. Among them are settlements with an extremely low number of inhabitants, and the change is probably conditioned by the desire for investment, development and progress of these settlements. Experts point out that one of the reasons why some of these villages received the status of cities is the fact that they are the birthplaces of famous Bulgarian politicians and statesmen. Banya, for example, is the settlement where Simeon of Saxe-Coburggotsky is registered as a permanent address, and Pravets is the birthplace of Todor Zhivkov.
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Obtaining the status of a city helps small settlements – villages – not only to attract investors and create jobs, which is important to preserve the local population, but also the transformation of the village into a city leads to an increase in property prices and to possibility of higher and denser development. Thus, among the newest cities in Bulgaria, we find settlements with about 1,000 to 3,000 residents at a permanent address, which is less than the number of inhabitants of a number of large Bulgarian villages. In order for a village to acquire the status of a city, it is necessary to have at least 3,000 local residents with a permanent address, or 1,000 for resort villages, a requirement which, however, is clearly not met, bearing in mind the population of some of the smallest Bulgarian cities. The smallest town in Bulgaria – Melnik, for example, can boast of only about 300 people, which makes it smaller even than half the villages in Bulgaria. 300 people is a figure compared to which about 3,000 people inhabiting the new town of Banya, for example, sounds more than normal to us. The population of a number of other famous Bulgarian cities is below 1500 people, some of which are also national resorts such as Kiten and Ahtopol and others. Resort villages have the right to change their status to a city if their population is more than 1,000 people.
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What are the newest cities in Bulgaria?
16 are the newest cities in Bulgaria for the last 20 years, and if we look back in time, 20 of the villages in our country have become the newest cities in Bulgaria from 1985 to today. As of December 4, 1985, there were 237 cities in Bulgaria, while today there are 257, which means an increase of 20 in the number of cities in our country. However, it is difficult to say whether this has managed to help for a better life in these settlements. The resorts have certainly developed and have a life in them that is indistinguishable from the city, but a number of very small towns that were villages remain country-type towns that we can more easily liken to villages than to cities. Among the names of the newest cities in Bulgaria we find: Kiten, Kostandovo in Rakitovo municipality, Pazardzhik region, Kren, Kuklen, Marten in Ruse region, Momin Prohod in Sofia region, Obzor, Shipka and others.
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