title: Varshets Municipality
text: # Varshets Municipality
  
  Varshets Municipality (Bulgarian: Община Вършец) is a municipality (obshtina) in Montana Province, Northwestern Bulgaria, located on the northern slopes of the western Stara planina mountain to the area of the so-called Fore-Balkan. It is named after its administrative centre - the town of Varshets.
  
  The municipality embraces a territory of 240 $km^2$ (93 sq mi) with a population of 8,108 inhabitants, as of February 2011.
  
  Todorini Kukli peak, 1,785 m (5,856 ft), is located in the southwestern part of the area almost on the very border with Berkovitsa Municipality.
  
  ## Settlements
  
  Varshets Municipality includes the following 9 places (towns are shown in bold):
  
  | Town/Village | Cyrillic | Population (December 2009) |
  | - | - | - |
  | Varshets | Вършец | 6,538 |
  | Cherkaski | Черкаски | 316 |
  | Dolna Bela Rechka | Долна Бела речка | 99 |
  | Dolno Ozirovo | Долно Озирово | 477 |
  | Draganitsa | Драганица | 260 |
  | Gorna Bela Rechka | Горна Бела речка | 83 |
  | Gorno Ozirovo | Горно Озирово | 382 |
  | Spanchevtsi | Спанчевци | 367 |
  | Stoyanovo | Стояново | 81 |
  | Total | | 8,605 |
  
  ## Demography
  
  The following table shows the change of the population during the last four decades.
  
  Varshets Municipality :
  
  | Year | 1975 | 1985 | 1992 | 2001 | 2005 | 2007 | 2009 | 2011 |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Population | 12,119 | 11,453 | 11,062 | 9,870 | 9,031 | 8,860 | 8,605 | 8,108 |
  | Sources: Census 2001, Census 2011, „pop-stat.mashke.org“, |||||||||
  
  ### 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 Varshets Municipality
  
  Orthodox Christianity
  
  75.7%
  
  Catholicism
  
  0.4%
  
  Protestantism
  
  1.2%
  
  Islam
  
  0.0%
  
  No religion
  
  18.5%
  
  Prefer not to answer, others and indefinable
  
  4.2% :
  
  