# Kaolinovo Municipality

Kaolinovo Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Каолиново) is a municipality (obshtina) in Shumen Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located in the Ludogorie geographical region, part of the Danubian Plain. It is named after its administrative centre – the town of Kaolinovo.
The municipality embraces a territory of 293 km$^2$ (113 sq mi) with a population of 12,646 inhabitants, as of December 2017.

## Settlements

Kaolinovo Municipality includes the following 16 places (towns are shown in bold):
| Town/Village | Cyrillic | Population (December 2009) |
| Kaolinovo | Каолиново | 1,538 |
| Branichevo | Браничево | 1,220 |
| Doyrantsi | Дойранци | 535 |
| Dolina | Долина | 503 |
| Gusla | Гусла | 664 |
| Kliment | Климент | 1019 |
| Lisi Vrah | Лиси връх | 69 |
| Lyatno | Лятно | 584 |
| Naum | Наум | 433 |
| Omarchevo | Омарчево | 38 |
| Pristoe | Пристое | 983 |
| Sini Vir | Сини вир | 604 |
| Sredkovets | Средковец | 642 |
| Todor Ikonomovo | Тодор Икономово | 2,027 |
| Takach | Тъкач | 718 |
| Zagoriche | Загориче | 674 |
| Total | | 12,251 |

## Demography

The following table shows the change of the population during the last four decades.
Kaolinovo Municipality :
| Year | 1975 | 1985 | 1992 | 2001 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 | 2011 |
| Population | 20,916 | 19,382 | 13,556 | 12,544 | 12,518 | 12,456 | 12,251 | 12,093 |
| Sources: Census 2001, Census 2011, „pop-stat.mashke.org“, |||||||||

### Ethnic composition

According to the 2011 census, among those who answered the optional question on ethnic identification, the ethnic composition of the municipality was the following:
| Ethnic group | Population | Percentage |
| Bulgarians | 722 | 6.3% |
| Turks | 8964 | 77.6% |
| Roma (Gypsy) | 1675 | 14.5% |
| Other | 12 | 0.1% |
| Undeclared | 175 | 1.5% |
More than three-quarters of the population of Kaolinovo Municipality consists of ethnic Turks. The second largest ethnic group are the Turkish-speaking Roma people with one in seven people. Bulgarians make up a very small minority.
Ethnic groups in Kaolinovo Municipality (2011 census) :
| Ethnic group | Ethnic group | Percentage | Percentage |
| Bulgarians | Bulgarians | 6.3% | 6.3% |
| Turks | Turks | 77.6% | 77.6% |
| Roma | Roma | 14.5% | 14.5% |
| others and indefinable | others and indefinable | 1.6% | 1.6% |

### Religion

According to the latest Bulgarian census of 2011, the religious composition, among those who answered the optional question on religious identification, was the following:
Religious composition of Municipality
Orthodox Christianity
5.1%
Catholicism
0.0%
Protestantism
0.1%
Islam
90.1%
No religion
0.6%
Prefer not to answer, others and indefinable
4.1% :
The municipality of Kaolinovo has one of the highest concentrations of Muslims in Bulgaria.

### Demographic situation

The municipality of Kaolinovo had relatively favourable demographic indicators compared to other areas in Bulgaria, although it has become worse.
| | Population | Live births | Deaths | Natural growth | Birth rate (‰) | Death rate (‰) | Natural growth rate (‰) |
| 2000 | 13,593 | 157 | 152 | +5 | 11.6 | 11.2 | +0.4 |
| 2001 | 12,481 | 166 | 175 | −9 | 13.3 | 14.0 | −0.7 |
| 2002 | 12,511 | 160 | 190 | −30 | 12.8 | 15.2 | −2.4 |
| 2003 | 12,555 | 168 | 147 | +21 | 13.4 | 11.7 | +1.7 |
| 2004 | 12,551 | 158 | 152 | +6 | 12.6 | 12.1 | +0.5 |
| 2005 | 12,518 | 147 | 165 | −18 | 11.7 | 13.2 | −1.4 |
| 2006 | 12,482 | 148 | 166 | −18 | 11.9 | 13.3 | −1.4 |
| 2007 | 12,456 | 172 | 185 | −13 | 13.8 | 14.9 | −1.0 |
| 2008 | 12,323 | 121 | 160 | −39 | 9.8 | 12.9 | −3.2 |
| 2009 | 12,251 | 169 | 167 | +2 | 13.8 | 13.6 | +0.2 |
| 2010 | 12,248 | 156 | 173 | −17 | 12.7 | 14.1 | −1.4 |
| 2011 | 12,107 | 141 | 146 | −5 | 11.6 | 12.1 | −0.4 |
| 2012 | 12,200 | 175 | 153 | +22 | 14.3 | 12.5 | +1.8 |
| 2013 | 12,298 | 144 | 144 | +0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | +0.0 |
| 2014 | 12,490 | 153 | 146 | +7 | 12.2 | 11.7 | +0.6 |
| 2015 | 12,522 | 142 | 161 | −19 | 11.3 | 12.9 | −1.5 |
| 2016 | 12,551 | 134 | 150 | −16 | 10.7 | 12.0 | −1.3 |
| 2017 | 12,646 | 117 | 155 | −38 | 9.3 | 12.3 | −3.0 |
| 2018 | 12,771 | 124 | 187 | -63 | 9.7 | 14.6 | -4.9 |