Despite the demographic policy conducted by the state, demographic processes in Bulgaria have been negative for more than 30 years, with spatial differences in their manifestation and results. The main goal of our research is to find demographically stable municipalities that can be accepted as a model of demographic policy implementation to achieve positive changes in the population growth. For this purpose we investigated and identified the changes in the main demographic indicators of population for 2011 and 2019, using cluster analysis. We created spatial models of these demographic processes showing that the number of demographically sustainable municipalities is lower than that of the ones in an advanced depopulation process. Several statistical methods (tools) of specialized software - cluster analysis, Hot Spot Analysis, Spatial Autocorrelation were used. Our hypothesis that the demographic stability of a municipality is most strongly influenced by its economy was confirmed. The analysis proved that demographically stable municipalities are represented by the largest cities and economic centres of Bulgaria. A large number of them, located mainly in mountainous and/or rural areas of Bulgaria, are highly depopulated. The significant socioeconomic inequalities in Bulgaria are a major factor that stimulates internal migration to economic centres and deepens the depopulation of vast parts of the country. They are home to older people and, therefore, these municipalities record very low birth rate and high mortality.

Based on a comparative analysis of the conceptual and terminological issues, we assume that with the Centre for Research on Settlements and Urbanism Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning J o u r n a l h o m e p a g e: http://jssp.reviste.ubbcluj.ro The article explores and presents the leading trends in population dynamics and spatial distribution in Blagoevgrad municipality, Bulgaria. The key demographic aspects were analysed for the period between 2001 and 2016 (number and density of rural and urban population, natural and migratory dynamics and age structure). Data was freely provided by the National Institute of Statistics, Bulgaria and collected during field work. Specific features of the demographic resources were shown and the processes of depopulation and suburbanization were explained and localized. Their impact on the settlements in the area under study was analyzed-a large administrative and educational centre, Blagoevgrad town and 25 villages. Results show that the contemporary geodemographic processes and the territorial distribution of population are also features describing other municipalities in Bulgaria.

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