Vayots Dzor Province

Vayoz Dsor, in English transcription Vayots Dzor ( [vɑjˌɔt͡sʰ ˈd͡zɔɾ], Armenian Վայոց ձոր, scientific transliteration Vayoc' Jor) is a province in southern Armenia.

It lies between the internationally unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic or territory occupied and claimed by it in the northeast (de jure part of Azerbaijan) and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan in the southwest and south. In the southeast it borders on the Armenian province of Zyunik, in the west on a short section on the province of Ararat and in the north on Gegharkunik.

Wajoz Dsor has an area of 2308 km² and 47,659 inhabitants (2011). It is thus the most sparsely populated province in the country. The administrative center is the small town of Yeghegnadzor with 8357 inhabitants. Other towns are Jermuk (4346 inhabitants) and Vajk (5067 inhabitants). Jehgegnadzor and Vayk, as former settlements of urban type, received city rights only in the 1990s. In addition to the three urban municipalities, there are 41 rural municipalities with a total of 52 villages; the largest villages (with over 1500 inhabitants each) are Aghavnadzor, Areni, Getap, Gladzor and Malishka (as of 2011).

In the province is the monastery of Arates.

The province was formed during the administrative reorganization within the framework of decentralization in 1995 from the rajons Yeghegnadzor and Vayk (until 1990 Asisbekov), which had existed in the Armenian SSR of the Soviet Union since 1930 and 1931, respectively, as well as the rajon-free city of Djermuk.