# Omurtag Municipality

Omurtag Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Омуртаг) is a municipality (obshtina) in Targovishte Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located in the so-called Fore-Balkan area north of the Stara planina mountain. It is named after its administrative centre - the town of Omurtag.
The municipality embraces a territory of 401.7 km$^2$ (155.1 sq mi) with a total population of 21,356 inhabitants, as of February 2011. The main road E772 crosses the area connecting its main town with the province centre Targovishte, to the northeast, and the city of Veliko Tarnovo to the west.

## Settlements

Omurtag Municipality includes the following 43 places (towns are shown in bold):
| Town/Village | Cyrillic | Population (December 2009) |
| Omurtag | Омуртаг | 8,725 |
| Belomortsi | Беломорци | 1,055 |
| Balgaranovo | Българаново | 219 |
| Chernokaptsi | Чернокапци | 315 |
| Dolna Hubavka | Долна Хубавка | 216 |
| Dolno Kozarevo | Долно Козарево | 439 |
| Dolno Novkovo | Долно Новково | 145 |
| Golyamo Tsarkvishte | Голямо Църквище | 364 |
| Gorna Hubavka | Горна Хубавка | 358 |
| Gorno Kozarevo | Горно Козарево | 262 |
| Gorno Novkovo | Горно Новково | 215 |
| Gorsko Selo | Горско село | 151 |
| Iliyno | Илийно | 621 |
| Kamburovo | Камбурово | 1,199 |
| Kestenovo | Кестеново | 308 |
| Kozma Prezviter | Козма Презвитер | 574 |
| Krasnoseltsi | Красноселци | 231 |
| Mogilets | Могилец | 377 |
| Obitel | Обител | 614 |
| Panayot Hitovo | Панайот Хитово | 320 |
| Panichino | Паничино | 181 |
| Petrino | Петрино | 152 |
| Plastina | Плъстина | 628 |
| Ptichevo | Птичево | 259 |
| Padarino | Пъдарино | 559 |
| Parvan | Първан | 347 |
| Rositsa | Росица | 11 |
| Ratlina | Рътлина | 235 |
| Stanets | Станец | 251 |
| Tapchileshtovo | Тъпчилещово | 107 |
| Tsarevtsi | Царевци | 62 |
| Tserovishte | Церовище | 645 |
| Ugledno | Угледно | 150 |
| Velikdenche | Великденче | 297 |
| Velichka | Величка | 500 |
| Verentsi | Веренци | 473 |
| Veselets | Веселец | 159 |
| Visok | Висок | 278 |
| Vrani Kon | Врани кон | 726 |
| Zelena Morava | Зелена морава | 593 |
| Zmeyno | Змейно | 179 |
| Zvezditsa | Звездица | 756 |
| Total | | 24,256 |

## Demography

The following table shows the change of the population during the last four decades. Since 1992 Omurtag Municipality has comprised the former municipality of Obitel and the numbers in the table reflect this unification.
Omurtag Municipality :
| Year | 1975 | 1985 | 1992 | 2001 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 | 2011 |
| Population | 22,292 | 21,556 | 27,000 | 25,212 | 24,968 | 24,789 | 24,256 | 21,853 |
| 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 | 3518 | 20.1% |
| Turks | 11959 | 68.3% |
| Roma (Gypsy) | 1690 | 9.7% |
| Other | 198 | 1.1% |
| Undeclared | 147 | 0.8% |

#### Demographic indicators

The municipality of Omurtag had relatively favourable demographic indicators compared to the Bulgarian average. But after 2013, the number of births decreased significantly while the number of deaths increased. Omurtag recorded its lowest birth rate, highest death rate and lowest natural growth in 2017. It was the biggest yearly fall since 2000.
| | Population | Live births | Deaths | Natural growth | Birth rate (‰) | Death rate (‰) | Natural growth rate (‰) |
| 2000 | 27,115 | 293 | 304 | -11 | 10.8 | 11.2 | -0.4 |
| 2001 | 25,240 | 263 | 276 | -13 | 10.4 | 10.9 | -0.5 |
| 2002 | 25,401 | 276 | 266 | +10 | 10.9 | 10.5 | +0.4 |
| 2003 | 25,298 | 308 | 311 | -3 | 12.2 | 12.3 | -0.1 |
| 2004 | 25,192 | 306 | 260 | +46 | 12.1 | 10.3 | +1.8 |
| 2005 | 24,968 | 238 | 310 | -72 | 9.5 | 12.4 | -2.9 |
| 2006 | 25,003 | 295 | 275 | +20 | 11.8 | 11.0 | +0.8 |
| 2007 | 24,789 | 312 | 338 | -26 | 12.6 | 13.6 | -1.0 |
| 2008 | 24,613 | 337 | 314 | +23 | 13.7 | 12.8 | +0.9 |
| 2009 | 24,256 | 323 | 286 | +37 | 13.3 | 11.8 | +1.5 |
| 2010 | 23,800 | 326 | 292 | +34 | 13.7 | 12.3 | +1.4 |
| 2011 | 21,818 | 328 | 285 | +43 | 15.0 | 13.1 | +2.0 |
| 2012 | 21,745 | 284 | 297 | -13 | 13.1 | 13.7 | -0.6 |
| 2013 | 21,614 | 252 | 252 | +0 | 11.7 | 11.7 | +0.0 |
| 2014 | 21,442 | 228 | 308 | -80 | 10.6 | 14.4 | -3.7 |
| 2015 | 21,442 | 255 | 321 | -66 | 11.9 | 15.0 | -3.1 |
| 2016 | 21,150 | 211 | 300 | -89 | 10.0 | 14.2 | -4.2 |
| 2017 | 20,853 | 176 | 332 | -156 | 8.4 | 15.9 | -7.5 |
| 2018 | 20,818 | 183 | 264 | -81 | 8.8 | 12.7 | -3.9 |
The continued childbirth decline came amid the falling number of women of childbearing age because of emigration to Western Europe (especially Germany and the Netherlands).

### 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 Omurtag Municipality
Orthodox Christianity
18.5%
Catholicism
0.2%
Protestantism
0.0%
Islam
75.7%
No religion
1.9%
Prefer not to answer, others and indefinable
3.7% :