A little more than a year after the census carried out in February 2011, demographic data indicates that the number of villages with zero inhabitants has increased by two.

The number of villages with no inhabitants grew from 181 in February 2011 to 183 at the end of 2011, according to data of the National Register of Populated Places cited by the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency (BTA).

However, five villages which had zero inhabitants at the time of the census welcomed permanent residents by the end of 2011.

Four of the five villages are located in the Veliko Tarnovo Province in north central Bulgaria and one is in the Varna Province in northeast Bulgaria.

Seven villages remained without permanent inhabitants by end-2011.

The Gabrovo Province in central Bulgaria topped the ranking by number of villages with zero inhabitants.

At the time of the census, the Gabrovo Province had 69 rural areas without permanent residents, which grew to 71 by the end of 2011.

In end-2011, there were a total of 2667 towns with three-digit populations, as compared to 2692 at the time of the census.

Although its population declined in the period between the census and end-2011, the village of Lozen in the Sofia Province remains the biggest Bulgarian village, boasting a population of 6281 people.

Meanwhile, Asenovgrad in southern Bulgaria, which has a population of 50 590, is the biggest city that is not a province capital, despite the fact that it has a bigger population than 9 province capitals.

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