title: Novi Pazar Municipality
text: # Novi Pazar Municipality
  
  Novi Pazar Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Нови пазар) is a municipality (obshtina) in Shumen Province, Northeastern Bulgaria, located between Ludogorie and Provadia Plateau, not far from South Dobrudzha geographical region. It is named after its administrative centre - the town of Novi Pazar.
  
  The municipality embraces a territory of 318 $km^2$ (123 sq mi) with a population of 18,476 inhabitants, as of December 2009. The southernmost part of the area is crossed by the eastern operating section of Hemus motorway which is planned to connect the port of Varna with the country capital – Sofia.
  
  ## Settlements
  
  Novi Pazar Municipality includes the following 16 places (towns are shown in bold):
  
  | Town/Village | Cyrillic | Population (December 2009) |
  | - | - | - |
  | Novi Pazar | Нови Пазар | 12,673 |
  | Bedzhene | Беджене | 30 |
  | Enevo | Енево | 448 |
  | Izbul | Избул | 321 |
  | Mirovtsi | Мировци | 508 |
  | Pamukchii | Памукчии | 1,277 |
  | Pisarevo | Писарево | 95 |
  | Praventsi | Правенци | 300 |
  | Preselka | Преселка | 264 |
  | Sechishte | Сечище | 132 |
  | Stan | Стан | 524 |
  | Stoyan Mihaylovski | Стоян Михайловски | 824 |
  | Tranitsa | Тръница | 140 |
  | Voyvoda | Войвода | 518 |
  | Zaychino Oreshe | Зайчино Ореше | 229 |
  | Zhilino | Жилино | 193 |
  | Total | | 18,476 |
  
  ## Demography
  
  The following table shows the change of the population during the last four decades.
  
  Novi Pazar Municipality :
  
  | Year | 1975 | 1985 | 1992 | 2001 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 | 2011 |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Population | 25,685 | 24,826 | 20,985 | 19,559 | 19,141 | 18,934 | 18,476 | 16,879 |
  | 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 | 9872 | 62.9% |
  | Turks | 3941 | 25.1% |
  | Roma (Gypsy) | 1720 | 11% |
  | Other | 59 | 0.4% |
  | Undeclared | 112 | 0.7% |
  