The number of Bulgarian villages with no inhabitants has grown by 2 during the last 10 months of 2011, strengthening the picture of a pervasive depopulation of Bulgaria's rural areas.

According to Bulgaria's latest census, completed February 2011, there were 181 villages with no inhabitants, but according to current official statistics, by end of December 2011 that number grew to 183.

A curious and perhaps positive detail in the statistics shows that 5 of those 181 villages depopulated as of February 2011 have new inhabitants now, writes the Bulgarian News Agency.

This however means that as many as 7 other villages have been rendered ghost places in the period of just 10 months.

The area with the highest number of depopulated villages is Gabrovo region in central northern Bulgaria, following by neighboring Veliko Tarnovo region, and Kardzhali region in the Rhodope Mountains, in Bulgaria's south-east.

The village of Lozen, just east of capital Sofia, remains Bulgaria's largest (pop. 6,281), in spite of its population shrinking by little during the period.

The town of Asenovgrad (pop. 50,590) remains Bulgaria's largest town that is not the administrative center of a region, and is more populous than 9 of Bulgaria's regional centers.

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