Astrakhan Oblast

Astrakhan Oblast (Russian: Астраха́нская о́бласть, Astrakhanskaya oblast, Kazakh: Астрахан облысы, Astrakhan oblysy) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast) located in southern Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 1,010,073.[8]

Astrakhan Oblast
Oblast
Астраханская область
Flag
Coat of arms
Coordinates: 47°14′N 47°14′E
CountryRussia
Federal districtSouthern[1]
Economic regionVolga[2]
Administrative centerAstrakhan[3]
Government
 • BodyOblast Duma[4]
 • Governor[5]Igor Babushkin[6]
Area
[7]
 • Total44,100 km2 (17,000 sq mi)
 • Rank55th
Population
 (2010 Census)[8]
 • Total1,010,073
 • Estimate 
(2018)[9]
1,017,514 (+0.7%)
 • Rank52nd
 • Density23/km2 (59/sq mi)
 • Urban
66.7%
 • Rural
33.3%
Time zoneUTC+4 (MSK+1 [10])
ISO 3166 codeRU-AST
License plates30
OKTMO ID12000000
Official languagesRussian[11]
Websitehttp://www.astrobl.ru/

Geography
Semi-desert in Narimanovsky District, Astrakhan Oblast
Bogdo-Baskunchak Nature Reserve in Astrakhan Oblast

Astrakhan is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. Its southern border is the Caspian Sea, eastern is Kazakhstan (Atyrau Region and West Kazakhstan Region), northern is Volgograd Oblast, and western is Kalmykia.

It is within the Russian Southern Federal District.

History

Astrakhan region is the homeland of the Buzhans, one of several Slavic tribes from which modern Russians evolved.[12] They lived in Southern Russia and inhabited the area around the Buzan river. Buzan oblast was created on December 27, 1943, on parts of the territories of the abolished Kalmyk ASSR and Astrakhan Okrug of Stalingrad Oblast.[13] Starting from the 16th century, Indians had moved to the region causing the region to be under Indian influence.[14][15] August–December 1942, the Germans reached the edge of the Astrakhansky Oblast and crossed the edges into the Region, the Abwehr from 1942 to 1943 and Nazi Army stragglers, 1941–44.

Project Vega

From October 8, 1980 to October 27, 1984, and under the leadership of Nikolai Baibakov,[lower-alpha 1] the USSR held fifteen deep underground nuclear tests for Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy at the site Vega in the Ryn Desert in the east of the oblast less than 50 km from downtown Astrakhan to create reservoirs for natural gas storage.[16][17] Because of the detonation depth (975 to 1,100 meters) and relatively low yield (3.2 to 13.5 kilotons), no radiation was released to the environment.[16] These blasts had lower yields than the Project Sapphire blasts, which were 40 km south-southwest of Orenburg, to reduce any possible seismic destruction to nearby towns in the Volga delta including Astrakhan.[17][18] At that time, the natural gas fields near Astrakhan, which are at a depth of 3900 to 4,100 meters, could contain as much as 6 trillion cubic meters, which is an amount similar to Urengoy. In 2017, the Astrakhanskoye field, which is an area of 100 km by 40 km in the middle of the Astrakhan arch and is 60 km northeast of Astrakhan, is the ninth largest in Russia and the largest in European Russia with an estimated gas in place of 102 trillion cubic feet (2.9 trillion cubic metres). The deposit is operated by Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Gazprom.[19] The field produces large amounts of sulfur, too.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

Modern history

On 30 October 1997, Astrakhan, alongside Kirov, Murmansk, Ulyanovsk, and Yaroslavl signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy.[25] The agreement would be abolished on 21 December 2001.[26]

Politics
Governor and Government of Astrakhan Oblast Administration Building on Sovetskaya Street

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Astrakhan CPSU Committee (who in reality had the biggest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). Since 1991, CPSU lost all the power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.

The Charter of Astrakhan Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Astrakhan Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Administration, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Population
Life expectancy at birth in Astrakhan Oblast [27][28]

1,010,073 (2010 Census);[8] 1,005,276 (2002 Census);[29] 998,114 (1989 Census).[30]

Life expectancy:
According to Rosstat.[27][28]

2019 2021
Average: 73.9 years 69.9 years
Male: 69.0 years 65.9 years
Female: 78.6 years 73.9 years

Settlements
 
 
Largest cities or towns in Astrakhan Oblast
2010 Russian Census
Rank Administrative Division Pop.

Astrakhan

Akhtubinsk		 1AstrakhanCity of oblast significance of Astrakhan520,339
Znamensk

Kharabali
2AkhtubinskAkhtubinsky District41,853
3ZnamenskClosed administrative-territorial formation of Znamensk29,401
4KharabaliKharabalinsky District18,117
5KamyzyakKamyzyaksky District16,314
6Krasny YarKrasnoyarsky District11,824
7NarimanovNarimanovsky District11,521
8IkryanoyeIkryaninsky District10,036
9VolodarskyVolodarsky District10,005
10LimanLimansky District9,024

Ethnic groups

According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic composition was:[8]

(shown are the ethnic groups with a population of more than 7,000 people)

Ethnicity PopulationPercentage
Russian 618,20467.6%
Kazakh 149,41516.3%
Tatar 60,5236.6%
Dagestani[31] 16,3971.8%
Ukrainian 8,1320.9%
Azerbaijani 7,8280.9%
Nogai 7,5890.8%
Chechen 7,2290.8%
Other 39.5394.3%
  • 95,217 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.[32]

Vital statistics

Total fertility rate:[34]

2009 – 1.77 | 2010 – 1.76 | 2011 – 1.78 | 2012 – 1.93 | 2013 – 1.91 | 2014 – 1.97 | 2015 – 1.97 | 2016 – 1.93(e)

Languages

The local group of Russian varieties is known as Astrakhan Russian and refers to several dialects spoken in and around the Astrakhan Oblast.

Religion
Religion in Astrakhan Oblast as of 2012 (Sreda Arena Atlas)[35][36]
Russian Orthodoxy
 
 46%
Other Orthodox
 
 4.3%
Other Christians
 
 2.1%
Islam
 
 14.6%
Rodnovery and other native faiths
 
 1.7%
Spiritual but not religious
 
 16.5%
Atheism and irreligion
 
 6.2%
Other and undeclared
 
 8.6%

According to a 2012 survey which interviewed 56,900 people[35] 46% of the population of Astrakhan Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 4% are Orthodox Christian believers who do not belong to any church or are members of other (non-Russian) Orthodox churches, 2% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 14% are Muslims, and 2% of the population adheres to the Slavic native faith (Rodnovery) or other folk religions of the region. In addition, 16% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, 6% is atheist, and 10% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.[35]

Smaller religious communities not represented in the poll cited above but present in the region include Hindus, Jews and Buddhists, each having one temple in Astrakhan Oblast.

See also
  • Astrakhan Khanate
  • Music of Astrakhan
  • Elections in Astrakhan Oblast
  • List of Chairmen of the Astrakhan Oblast Duma
  • Hinduism in Russia

Notes
  1. In 1963, with support from individuals in the Krasnodarnefteproekt, Nikolai Konstantinovich Baibakov received the Lenin Prize in technology for his discovery and development of gas-condensate fields. Later, as Chairman of Gosplan from October 2, 1965, to October 14, 1985, he actively pursued the development of gas condensate fields across the Soviet Union.

References
  1. Президент Российской Федерации. Указ №849 от 13 мая 2000 г. «О полномочном представителе Президента Российской Федерации в федеральном округе». Вступил в силу 13 мая 2000 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства РФ", No. 20, ст. 2112, 15 мая 2000 г. (President of the Russian Federation. Decree #849 of May 13, 2000 On the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in a Federal District. Effective as of May 13, 2000.).
  2. Госстандарт Российской Федерации. №ОК 024-95 27 декабря 1995 г. «Общероссийский классификатор экономических регионов. 2. Экономические районы», в ред. Изменения №5/2001 ОКЭР. (Gosstandart of the Russian Federation. #OK 024-95 December 27, 1995 Russian Classification of Economic Regions. 2. Economic Regions, as amended by the Amendment #5/2001 OKER. ).
  3. Charter of Astrakhan Oblast, Article 9
  4. Charter of Astrakhan Oblast, Article 15
  5. Charter of Astrakhan Oblast, Article 22
  6. Official website of Astrakhan Oblast. Igor Yurevich Babushkin (in Russian)
  7. Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (May 21, 2004). "Территория, число районов, населённых пунктов и сельских администраций по субъектам Российской Федерации (Territory, Number of Districts, Inhabited Localities, and Rural Administration by Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation)". Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
  8. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
  9. "26. Численность постоянного населения Российской Федерации по муниципальным образованиям на 1 января 2018 года". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved January 23, 2019.
  10. "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  11. Official throughout the Russian Federation according to Article 68.1 of the Constitution of Russia.
  12. "CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Russia". w.w.w.newadvent.org. Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  14. Индийское подворье в Астрахани
  15. "Astrakhan's India Connection". March 16, 2020.
  16. Mikhaylov, Victor H. (ed.). Ядерные испытания в СССР [Nuclear tests in the USSR]. Ministry of Atomic Energy and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (in Russian). Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  17. Nordyke, M. D. (September 1, 2000). "Underground Cavities for Storage of Gas Condensate". The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions (PDF). Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. pp. 36–41. doi:10.2172/793554. Report no.: UCRL-ID-124410 Rev 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 23, 2016. Retrieved October 5, 2017. U. S. Department of Energy contract no.: W-7405-Eng48.
  18. Nordyke, Milo D. (July 24, 1996). The Soviet Program for Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions (PDF). IAEA. pp. 36–9. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  19. "Gazprom Dobycha Astrakhan". Gazprom. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  20. Borg, I.Y. (1982). "Underground nuclear explosions at Astrakhan, USSR". IAEA. Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA). Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  21. "USSR: Astrakhn Natural Gas Project" (PDF). CIA. December 3, 1982. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 23, 2017. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  22. Kondratyev, А.Н.; Molodih, G.H.; Razmishlyaev, A.A. (January 13, 1982). Особенности формирования Астраханского газоконденсатного месторождения [Features of the Astrakhan gas condensate field] (in Russian). Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  23. Астраханская область. Объект "Вега" готовят к консервации. [Astrakhan Region: The site "Vega" is being prepared for conservation]. regions.ru (in Russian). November 27, 2003. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  24. Yablokov, Alexei Vladimirovich. Миф о безопасности и эффективности мирных подземных ядерных взрывов [The Myth of the Safety and Efficiency of Peaceful Underground Nuclear Explosions]. Yabloko (in Russian). Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  25. "Yeltsin Signs Power-Sharing Agreements With Five More Russian Regions". Jamestown. November 3, 1997. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  26. Chuman, Mizuki. "The Rise and Fall of Power-Sharing Treaties Between Center and Regions in Post-Soviet Russia" (PDF). Demokratizatsiya: 146. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 8, 2019. Retrieved May 2, 2019.
  27. "Демографический ежегодник России" [The Demographic Yearbook of Russia] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service of Russia (Rosstat). Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  28. "Ожидаемая продолжительность жизни при рождении" [Life expectancy at birth]. Unified Interdepartmental Information and Statistical System of Russia (in Russian). Retrieved June 28, 2022.
  29. Russian Federal State Statistics Service (May 21, 2004). Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек [Population of Russia, Its Federal Districts, Federal Subjects, Districts, Urban Localities, Rural Localities—Administrative Centers, and Rural Localities with Population of Over 3,000] (XLS). Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года [All-Russia Population Census of 2002] (in Russian).
  30. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 г. Численность наличного населения союзных и автономных республик, автономных областей и округов, краёв, областей, районов, городских поселений и сёл-райцентров [All Union Population Census of 1989: Present Population of Union and Autonomous Republics, Autonomous Oblasts and Okrugs, Krais, Oblasts, Districts, Urban Settlements, and Villages Serving as District Administrative Centers]. Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989 года [All-Union Population Census of 1989] (in Russian). Институт демографии Национального исследовательского университета: Высшая школа экономики [Institute of Demography at the National Research University: Higher School of Economics]. 1989 – via Demoscope Weekly.
  31. This figure includes ethnic Avars, Dargins, Lezgins, Kumyks, Tabasarans, and Laks.
  32. "Впн-2010". Archived from the original on December 25, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2011.
  33. "Естественное движение населения в разрезе субъектов Российской Федерации". www.gks.ru.
  34. "Демографический ежегодник России" [Demographic Yearbook of Russia]. www.gks.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on October 17, 2019.
  35. "Arena: Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia". Sreda, 2012.
  36. 2012 Arena Atlas Religion Maps. "Ogonek", № 34 (5243), 27/08/2012. Retrieved 21/04/2017. Archived.

Sources
  • Государственная Дума Астраханской области. №21/2007-ОЗ 9 апреля 2007 г. «Устав Астраханской области», в ред. Закона №49/2017-ОЗ от 25 сентября 2017 г. «О внесении изменения в статью 17 Устава Астраханской области». Вступил в силу 30 апреля 2007 г. (за исключением отдельных положений). Опубликован: "Сборник законов и нормативных правовых актов Астраханской области", №18, 19 апреля 2007 г. (State Duma of Astrakhan Oblast. #21/2007-OZ April 9, 2007 Charter of Astrakhan Oblast, as amended by the Law #49/2017-OZ of September 25, 2017 On Amending Article 17 of the Charter of Astrakhan Oblast. Effective as of April 30, 2007 (with the exception of several clauses).).
  • Президиум Верховного Совета СССР. Указ от 27 декабря 1943 г. «О ликвидации Калмыцкой АССР и образовании Астраханской области в составе РСФСР». (Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Decree of December 27, 1943 On Abolishing the Kalmyk ASSR and Establishing Astrakhan Oblast Within the RSFSR. ).
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