Plovdiv canal in the country. In that period, Plovdiv became the birthplace of Bulgaria's movement for democratic reform, which by 1989 had garnered enough support to enter government. Plovdiv has hosted specialized exhibitions of the World's Fair in 1981, 1985, and 1991. The population by permanent address for the municipality of Plovdiv for 2007 is 380,682, which makes it the second in population in the nation. According to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (NSI), the people who actually live in Plovdiv are 346,790. According to the 2012 census, 339,077 live within the city limits and 403,153 in the
FC Maritsa Plovdiv which flows past Plovdiv. The club is particularly famous for its renowned youth program that has produced many Bulgarian talents over the years – Hristo Stoichkov, Dinko Dermendzhiev, Aleksandar Aleksandrov. Bulgarian national first-team players Georgi Georgiev, Kostadin Vidolov, Krassimir Chomakov, Valeri Domovchiyski, Yordan Todorov, Asen Nikolov had also came through the ranks at Maritsa. In 2016–17 Third League season Maritsa Plovdiv finished second in their regional division, but gained promotion, because the first ranked team – FC Zagorets declined the offer to participate in the Second Professional League. On 16 June 2017 the club signed a contract with Botev Plovdiv