In 2018 there were a total of 591 depopulated villages and villages with less than ten residents in Bulgaria. 72 villages had one resident only and 164 Bulgarian villages did not have any permanent residents last year. At the end of 2018 there were a total of 5,256 towns and villages in Bulgaria, a reference of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency at the National Register of Populated Places of the National Statistical Institute shows. The number of Bulgarian towns amounted to 257. There were 4,997 villages in Bulgaria and two monasteries with status of populated places- the Klisura Monastery and the Rila Monastery. Lozen is the biggest Bulgarian village with a population of 6,188 residents.