Demographics
Gabrovo saw its most rapid growth in the post-World War II years, when its population was doubled. Following general population trends in Bulgaria, the number of citizens started declining after the fall of Communism in the country. People started emigrating abroad or to the capital of Sofia. Currently, Gabrovo is more than 20,000 people short of its peak, achieved in the period 1985-1991 when the number of the residents exceeded 80,000. The following table presents the change of the population after the liberation of the country in 1878.
| Gabrovo | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | 1887 | 1910 | 1934 | 1946 | 1956 | 1965 | 1975 | 1985 | 1992 | 2001 | 2005 | 2009 | 2011 |
| Population | 7,958 | 8,423 | 13,668 | 21,180 | 37,919 | 57,920 | 75,091 | 81,629 | 76,529 | 67,065 | 63,004 | 60,281 | 58,030 |
| Highest number 81,786 in 1986 | |||||||||||||
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