Rostov Oblast

Rostov Oblast (English) Ростовская область (Russian)
Location of Rostov Oblast in Russia
Coat of Arms	Flag
Coat of arms of Rostov Oblast	Flag of Rostov Oblast
Anthem: None
Country	Russia
Administrative center	Rostov on Don
Established	13 September 1937
Political status Federal district Economic region	Oblast Southern North Caucasus
Code	61,161
Area - Rank within Russia	100,800 km² 35st
Population ( 2002) - Rank within Russia - Density - Urban - Rural	4,241,800 inhabitants 6th 42.1 inhab. / km²
Official language	Russian
Governor	Vladimir Chub
Legislative body	Oblast Duma
Charter	Charter of Rostov Oblast
Official website	http://www.donland.ru/

Rostov Oblast (Russian: Росто́вская о́бласть, Rostovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast lies in the south of Russia with an area of 100,800 km² and a population of 4,404,013 (2002 Census) making it the fifth most populous federal subject in Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Rostov-on-Don, which also became the administrative center of the Southern Federal District in 2002.

Geography

Rostov Oblast borders Ukraine. It also borders Volgograd and Voronezh Oblasts in the north. Lastly, it borders Krasnodar and Stavropol Krais in the south, as well as the Republic of Kalmykia in the east.

Time zone

Rostov Oblast is located in the Moscow Time Zone (MSK/MSD). UTC offset is +0300 (MSK)/+0400 (MSD).

Rivers and lakes

The Don River, one of Europe's largest flows through the oblast for part of its course. Lakes cover only 0.4% of the oblast's area.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

Population: 4,404,013 (2002 Census)

Ethnic groups: Residents identified themselves as belonging to 157 different ethnic groups, including twenty-seven of more than two thousand persons each. The most important communities are the 3,847,337 ethnic Russians:(87.36%); the 118,486 ethnic Ukrainians:(2.69%); the 109,994 ethnic Armenians:(2.50%); and the 87,492 Cossacks:(1.99%), who are normally counted as Russians, but are an important minority in their own right in this area. Other important groups are the 28,285 Turks:(0.64%); 26,604 Belarusians:(0.60%)); 17,849 Tatars:(0.41%); 16,498 Azeris:(0.37%); 15,468 Chechens:(0.35%); 15,138 Roma:(0.34%); 11,669 Koreans:(0.26%); and 10,549 Georgians:(0.24%).
Less populous communities include the 7,599 Moldovans:(0.17%); 6,840 Germans:(0.17%); 6,735 Dargins:(0.15%); 4,984 Jews:(0.11%); 3,968 Avars:(0.09%); 3,659 Lezgins:(0.08%); 3,630 Udmurts:(0.08%); 3,400:Mordovians:(0.08%); 3,153 Greeks:(0.07%); 3,021 Kazakhs:(0.07%); 3,017 Chuvash:(0.07%); 2,667 Ossetians:(0.06%); 2,664 Mari:(0.06%); 2,231 Tabasarans:(0.05%); and 2,040 Assyrians:(0.05%).
There were also 31,529 people (0.72%) belonging to other ethno-cultural groupings. In addition, a further 7,507 (0.17%) of the inhabitants declined to state their nationality on the census questionnaire.^[1]

The port of Taganrog.

Economy

Major industries of Rostov Oblast are agriculture, agricultural industry, food processing, heavy industry, coal and automobile manufacture.

Culture

References

External links

• (Russian), *(English) Official webpage of Rostov Oblast.
• (English) News and events of Rostov Oblast.
• (English) The Rostov Region Official Tourism Portal.