Stara Zagora ( oblast Stara Zagora, former name Stara Zagora okrug) is a province of south central Bulgaria. It is named after its administrative and industrial centre—the city of Stara Zagora—the sixth-biggest town in the country. The province embraces a territory of 5,151.1 km² that is divided into 11 municipalities with a total population, as of December 2009, of 350,925 inhabitants.