Blagoevgrad Province

**Blagoevgrad Province** is a province (_oblast_) of southwestern Bulgaria. The administrative centre is Blagoevgrad.

The province has 14 municipalities with 12 towns. Significant towns include Bansko, Gotse Delchev, Melnik, Petrich, Razlog, Sandanski, and Simitli.

There are several mountains, or parts of mountains, in the province. These are Rila, Pirin, the Rhodopes, Slavyanka, Belasitsa, Vlahina, Maleshevo, Ograzhden and Stargach. There are two major rivers, Struma River and Mesta River.

## Municipalities

The Blagoevgrad province has 14 municipalities. The following table shows the names of each municipality, the main town (in bold) or village, and the population of each as of 2011.

|Municipality|Pop.|Town/Village|Pop.|||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Bansko|style="text-align:right;"|13,125|**Bansko**|style="text-align:right;"|8,562|
|Belitsa|style="text-align:right;"|9,927|**Belitsa**|style="text-align:right;"|3,362|
|Blagoevgrad|style="text-align:right;"|77,441|**Blagoevgrad**|style="text-align:right;"|70,881|
|Garmen|style="text-align:right;"|14,981|Garmen|style="text-align:right;"|1,982|
|Gotse Delchev|style="text-align:right;"|31,236|**Gotse Delchev**|style="text-align:right;"|19,219|
|Hadzhidimovo|style="text-align:right;"|10,091|**Hadzhidimovo**|style="text-align:right;"|2,730|
|Kresna|style="text-align:right;"|5,441|**Kresna**|style="text-align:right;"|3,470|
|Petrich|style="text-align:right;"|54,006|**Petrich**|style="text-align:right;"|28,902|
|Razlog|style="text-align:right;"|20,598|**Razlog**|style="text-align:right;"|11,960|
|Sandanski|style="text-align:right;"|40,470|**Sandanski**|style="text-align:right;"|26,472|
|Satovcha|style="text-align:right;"|15,444|Satovcha|style="text-align:right;"|2,434|
|Simitli|style="text-align:right;"|14,283|**Simitli**|style="text-align:right;"|6,674|
|Strumyani|style="text-align:right;"|5,778|Strumyani|style="text-align:right;"|998|
|Yakoruda|style="text-align:right;"|10,731|**Yakoruda**|style="text-align:right;"|5,792|

### Notable people from Blagoevgrad Province

- Paisiy Hilendarski (1722–1773)
- Neofit Rilski (1793–1881)
- Georgi Izmirliev (1851–1876)
- Boris Sarafov (1872–1907)
- Jane Sandanski (1872–1915)
- Nikola Vaptsarov (1909–1942)
- Georgi Pirinski (1948)
- Rosen Plevneliev (1964)

## Infobox (settlement)

- **name**: Blagoevgrad Province
- **native name lang**: bul
- **settlement type**: Provinces of Bulgaria, Province
- **image map**: Blagoevgrad in Bulgaria.svg
- **map caption**: Location of Blagoevgrad Province in Bulgaria
- **subdivision type**: Country
- **subdivision name**: Bulgaria
- **seat type**: Capital
- **seat**: Blagoevgrad
- **parts type**: Municipalities of Bulgaria, Municipalities
- **parts style**: para
- **p1**: 14
- **leader title**: Governor
- **area total km2**: 6449.47
- **elevation m**: 555
- **population total**: 323,552
- **population as of**: Census February 2011
- **population density km2**: auto
- **timezone1**: Eastern European Time, EET
- **utc offset1**: +2
- **timezone1 dst**: Eastern European Summer Time, EEST
- **utc offset1 dst**: +3
- **blank name sec1**: Vehicle registration plates of Bulgaria, License plate
- **blank info sec1**: E