Irkutsk Oblast
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Irkutsk Oblast (Russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in south-eastern Siberia in the basins of Angara, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers, and occupies the area of 767,900 km² (sixth largest in Russia with 4.6% of Russia's territory). As of the 2002 Census, 2,581,705 people lived in the oblast. The administrative center is Irkutsk.
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[edit] Geography
Irkutsk Oblast borders with the Buryat and Tuva Republics in the south and south-west, with Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west, with the Sakha Republic in the northeast, and with Chita Oblast in the east. The unique and world-famous Lake Baikal is located in the southeast of the region. It contains Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug. Irkutsk Oblast consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the Central Siberian Plateau and of its eastern extension, the Patom Plateau. Area of Irkutsk Oblast (region) is 768 000 sq. km.
[edit] Time zone
Irkutsk Oblast is located in the Irkutsk Time Zone (IRKT/IRKST). UTC offset is +0800 (IRKT)/+0900 (IRKST).
[edit] Climate
The climate vary from warm summer continental on the south to continental-subarctic in northern part (Köppen climate classification: Dwc). For almost half the year, from mid-October until the beginning of April, the average temperature is below 0 °C (32 °F)[1]. Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of −14.9 °C (5 °F) and average lows of −25.3 °C (−14 °F) in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is 24.5 °C (76 °F) and the average low is 11.2 °C (52 °F). However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily maximum of 15.3 °C (60 °F) and an average daily minimum of 2.5 °C (37 °F)[2][3]. More than half of all precipitation falls in the summer months, with the wettest month being July, with 96.2 mm (3.8 in) of rain. January is the driest month, with only 11 mm (0.4 in) of precipitation. Annual precipitation averages 419.8 mm (16.5 in)[4].
[edit] Economy
The main industries of Irkutsk Oblast are metals, energy, logging, oil and fuels, machine-building, chemicals, food industry, and hydroelectricity. The average wages in Irkutsk oblast are ten percent higher than in Russia overall[citation needed].
[edit] Administrative divisions
[edit] Demographics
The population of the oblast is 2.77 million, from which 79.6% are urban, and 20.4% are rural. The density of the population is 3.5 people per square kilometer, whereas the average density for Russia is 8.7. Irkutsk is the administrative center, with population of 594,500. Other large cities are Angarsk (267,000 people), Bratsk (253,600 people), Usolye-Sibirskoye (104,300 people), and Ust-Ilimsk (107,200 people).
