Editing Varna, Bulgaria (section)

== Demographics ==
[[File:vchairlift.jpg|thumb|A woman and a boy enjoying Varna's aerial chairlift ride at Chaika beachfront community]]
[[File:Varna Plage.JPG|thumb|Varna South Beach|alt=]]
[[File:Varna beach at sunset.jpg|thumb|Officers' Beach at sunset]]

The first population data date back to the mid-17th century when the town was thought to have about 4,000 inhabitants,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/getdocument.aspx?logid=5&id=6D1CD1EF-78E7-4FFD-92FE-55F8CAF9E64C |title=CEEOL Balkan Studies, Issue 2 /2004 |publisher=Ceeol.com |access-date=6 May 2009 |archive-date=29 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210529151805/https://www.ceeol.com/error-pages/object-not-found?aspxerrorpath=%2Faspx%2Fgetdocument.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> while the first population census in 1881 counted 24,555.<ref>{{cite web|author=Georgi Gentchev |url=http://www.varna-bg.com/chronicle/varna_d/d_bib.htm |title=varna sled 1876 |publisher=Varna-bg.com |access-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071223062146/http://www.varna-bg.com/chronicle/varna_d/d_bib.htm |archive-date=23 December 2007 }}</ref> According to the 1883 census, it was the second-largest in Bulgaria after [[Ruse, Bulgaria|Ruse]]. Thereafter Varna became Bulgaria's third-largest city and kept this position steadily for the next 120 years, while different cities took turns in the first, second, and fourth places.{{historical populations|1887|25256|1910|41419|1934|69563|1946|76954|1956|120345|1965|180110|1975|252525|1985|302211|1992|308432|2001|312889|2011|334870|2021|310664|align=right|cols=1|source=<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.geography.iit.bas.bg/2009/1-09/13-17.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-02-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706142758/http://www.geography.iit.bas.bg/2009/1-09/13-17.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-06 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Cities of Bulgaria|url=http://pop-stat.mashke.org/bulgaria-cities.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=POPULATION BY STATISTICAL REGIONS, DISTRICS, MUNICIPALITIES, SETTLEMENTS, SEX AND AGE (2021 Census)|url=https://infostat.nsi.bg/infostat/pages/reports/query.jsf?x_2=1962|publisher=[[National Statistical Institute (Bulgaria)|National Statistical Institute]]}}</ref>}}In January 2012, the city of Varna has a population of 334,781, which makes it the third-largest city in Bulgaria, while the [[Varna Municipality]] along with the legally affiliated adjacent villages had 343,643 inhabitants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nsi.bg/otrasal.php?otr=19&a1=376&a2=377&a3=378|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113220442/http://www.nsi.bg/otrasal.php?otr=19&a1=376&a2=377&a3=378|url-status=dead|title=National Statistical Institute – 2012|archive-date=13 November 2012|access-date=27 September 2019}}</ref> The unofficial metro area (including Varna municipality and adjacent parts of Aksakovo, Avren, Beloslav, and Devnya municipalities, and excluding adjacent parts of [[Dobrich Province]]) has an estimated population of 475,000.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grao.bg/tna/tab02.txt|title=General Directorate of Citizens' Registration and Administrative Services: Population Chart by permanent and temporary address (for provinces, municipalities and settlements) as of 15 September 2010|language=bg|access-date=8 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120620194059/http://www.grao.bg/tna/tab02.txt|archive-date=20 June 2012}}</ref> Here, the "Varna-[[Devnya]]-[[Provadia|Provadiya]] agglomeration" is not considered identical to the "Varna metro area".

Varna is one of the few cities in Bulgaria with a positive natural growth (6300 births vs. 3600 deaths in 2009<ref>{{cite web |url=http://moreto.net/novini.php?n=71833&c=09&p=6 |title=По неофициални данни населението на Варна е над 550 000 хиляди души |publisher=Moreto.net |date=14 January 2010 |access-date=15 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723212217/http://www.moreto.net/novini.php?n=71833&c=09&p=6 |archive-date=23 July 2011 }}</ref>) and new children's day care centers opening (6 expected in 2009).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=410353 |title=Мрежа &#124; Започва битката за детските градини &#124; Общината: Не правете обсади, класирането ще е онлайн |publisher=Dnevnik.bg |date=27 December 2007 |access-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114020751/http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=410353 |archive-date=14 January 2009 }}</ref>

Since December 2006, various sources, including the [[Bulgarian National Television]], national newspapers, research agencies, the mayor's office, and local police, claim that Varna has a population by present address of over 500,000, making it the nation's second-largest city.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=377043 |title=Varna, the City that Outran Statistics |language=bg |publisher=Dnevnik.bg |date=16 September 2007 |access-date=8 June 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113180715/http://www.dnevnik.bg/show/?storyid=377043 |archive-date=13 January 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://akcent.hit.bg/arhiv/br134/2-1.html|title=Akcent newspaper home page|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619041928/http://akcent.hit.bg/arhiv/br134/2-1.html|archive-date=19 June 2008}}</ref> Official statistics according to GRAO and NSI, however, have not supported their claims. In 2008, Deputy Mayor Venelin Zhechev estimated the actual population at 650,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://moreto.net/novini.php?n=18505&c=09&p= |title=Варна &#124; Варна ще се застрои до Бяла, смята зам.-кмет |publisher=Moreto.net |date=22 February 2008 |access-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423004112/http://moreto.net/novini.php?n=18505&c=09&p= |archive-date=23 April 2008 }}</ref> In December 2008, Mayor [[Kiril Yordanov]] claimed the actual number of permanent residents was 970,000,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.moreto.net/novini.php?n=31854&c=09 |title=Варна &#124; Кирил Йорданов: Във Варна живеят близо 1 милион. 60% са без варненска регистрация |publisher=Moreto.net |date=23 December 2008 |access-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718190932/http://www.moreto.net/novini.php?n=31854&c=09 |archive-date=18 July 2011 }}</ref> or that there were 60% unregistered people. In January 2009, the ''Financial Times'' said that "Varna now draws about 30,000 new residents a year."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ac62c054-e29c-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html |title=/ Weekend / House & Home – Port in a storm |work=Financial Times |date=17 January 2009 |access-date=6 May 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304125134/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ac62c054-e29c-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html |archive-date=4 March 2009 }}</ref> The census, carried out in February 2011, enumerated 334,870 inhabitants.
If unregistered population plus the commuters from the adjacent municipalities are taken into consideration, the real population of the city during a work day reaches 400,000. Varna attracts 2 to 3 million tourists a year, as the holidaymakers may reach as many as 200,000 daily during the high season. Thus, there are about 600,000 people in the city in July and August.
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===Ethnic, linguistic and religious composition===

[[File:Catedral de la Dormición de la Madre de Dios, Varna, Bulgaria, 2016-05-27, DD 109-111 HDR.jpg|thumb|Cathedral [[dome]]]]
[[File:Warna cerkiew1.jpg|thumb|[[Debar]] school [[Wood carving|wood-carved]] [[iconostasis]]]]

Most Varnians (варненци, ''varnentsi'') are ethnic [[Bulgarians]] (94%). Ethnic Turks rank second with 3%; however by 2009, [[Russians]] and other Russian-speaking recent immigrants with no Bulgarian citizenship, estimated at over 20,000, perhaps have outnumbered them, additionally there is a growing number of new Asian and African immigrants and corporate [[expatriate]]s. These are mostly students of the medical university of Varna. There is a comparable number of Romani (1% of the population) mostly in three distinctive and largely impoverished neighbourhoods: Maksuda; Rozova Dolina in the [[Asparuhovo, Varna|Asparuhovo]] district; and Chengene Kula in the Vladislavovo district, while Varna is spearheading several programs on Romani integration. [[Armenians]], [[Greeks]], Jews, and other long-standing ethnic groups are also present although in much smaller numbers. With the departure of most Turks and Greeks and the arrival of Bulgarian refugees and settlers from inland, Northern [[Dobruja]], [[Bessarabia]], and [[Anatolia|Asia Minor]], and later, of refugees from [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], Eastern [[Thrace]] and Southern Dobruja following the [[Second Balkan War]] and the First World War, ethnic diversity gave way to Bulgarian predominance, although sizeable minorities of [[Gagauz people|Gagauz]], Armenians, and [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardic Jews]] remained for decades.

According to the 1876 census of the [[Danube Vilayet]] in the [[Ottoman Empire]], the population of Varna consisted of a majority of [[Bulgarians]] (50%) and a minority of [[Muslims]] (over 40%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://tti.btk.mta.hu/images/2015/EM.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 March 2019 |archive-date=14 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201114005610/https://tti.btk.mta.hu/images/2015/EM.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> A significant part were Turkish-speaking Christians ([[Gagauzes]]) who identified as Bulgarians.

According to the 1881 census in Bulgaria, the [[Turkish language]] was a mother tongue for 8903 people (36.25%), for 6721 was the [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] (27.36%), for 5,367 was Greek (21.85%) and Tatar for 837 (3.41%). By ethnic group, ethnic Bulgarians were then 6,714, of whom 4478 men and 2236 women.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chernomore.bg/jivot/2016-02-02/kak-dedite-ni-slozhiha-balgarski-pechat-na-varna|title=Как дедите ни сложиха "български печат" на Варна|access-date=26 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160625092104/http://www.chernomore.bg/jivot/2016-02-02/kak-dedite-ni-slozhiha-balgarski-pechat-na-varna|archive-date=25 June 2016}}</ref>

According to the latest 2011 census data, the individuals declared their ethnic identity were distributed as follows:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nsi.bg/ORPDOCS/Census2011_1.pop_by_age.xls |title=Archived copy |access-date=18 March 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130908134107/http://www.nsi.bg/ORPDOCS/Census2011_1.pop_by_age.xls |archive-date=8 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nsi.bg/ORPDOCS/Census2011_4.pop_by_ethnos.xls |title=Archived copy |access-date=18 March 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521202356/http://www.nsi.bg/ORPDOCS/Census2011_4.pop_by_ethnos.xls |archive-date=21 May 2013 }}</ref>
*[[Bulgarians]]: 284,738 (93.8%)
*[[Bulgarian Turks|Turks]]: 10,028 (3.6%)
*[[Romani people in Bulgaria|Romani]]: 3,162 (1.0%)
*Others: 3,378 (1.1%)
*Indefinable: 2,288 (0.8%)
**Undeclared: 31,276 (10.3%)
Total: 334,781

In [[Varna Municipality]] 290,780 declared as Bulgarians, 11,089 as Turks, 3,535 as Romani and 34,758 did not declare their ethnic group.

According to the 2001 census data, the ethnic composition was as follows:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.strategy.bg/FileHandler.ashx?fileId=200 |title=Archived copy |access-date=28 October 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706143808/http://www.strategy.bg/FileHandler.ashx?fileId=200 |archive-date=6 July 2011 }}</ref>
*[[Bulgarians]]: 296,407 (92.5%)
*[[Bulgarian Turks|Turks]]: 12,295 (3.8%)
*[[Romani people in Bulgaria|Romani]]: 3,748 (1.2%)
*Others: 4,566 (1.4%)
*Indefinable: 2,406 (0.8%)
**Undeclared: 1,042 (0.3%)
Total: 320,464