Stavropol Krai

Stavropol Krai Ставропольский край (Russian)
—  Krai  —
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: none
Coordinates: 45°03′N 43°16′E / 45.050°N 43.267°E / 45.050; 43.267Coordinates: 45°03′N 43°16′E / 45.050°N 43.267°E / 45.050; 43.267
Political status
Country	Russia
Federal district	North Caucasian[1]
Economic region	North Caucasus[2]
Established	January 10, 1934
Administrative center	Stavropol
Government (as of August 2010)
- Governor[3]	Valery Zerenkov[4]
- Legislature	State Duma[3]
Statistics
Area (as of the 2002 Census)[5]
- Total	66,500 km2 (25,700 sq mi)
Area rank	45th
Population (2010 Census)[6]
- Total	2,786,281
- Rank	14th
- Density[7]	41.9/km2 (109/sq mi)
- Urban	57.2%
- Rural	42.8%
Time zone(s)	MSK (UTC+03:00)[8]
ISO 3166-2	RU-STA
License plates	26
Official languages	Russian[9]
Official website

Stavropol Krai (Russian: Ставропо́льский край, tr. Stavropolsky kray; IPA: [stəvrɐˈpolʲskʲɪj kraj]) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai) in the North Caucasian Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Stavropol. Population: 2,786,281 (2010 Census).^[6]

Geography

Stavropol Krai encompasses the central part of the Fore-Caucasus and most of the northern slopes of Caucasus Major. It borders on Rostov Oblast, Krasnodar Krai, the Republic of Kalmykia, the Republic of Dagestan, the Chechen Republic, the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania, the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, and the Karachay–Cherkess Republic.

History

December 15, 1936 after the spin-off from the North Caucasus region of Dagestan ASSR and transformed in the Kabardino-Balkar ASSR, North Ossetian and Chechen-Ingush autonomous regions, the center was moved to the edge of the city Voroshilovsk, and the territory is close to the borders of modern Stavropol Territory. On March 13, 1937, after the death of Sergo Ordzhonikidze, to perpetuate the memory of revolutionary North Caucasus region was renamed Ordzhonikidze.

January 12, 1943 by the Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, the administrative center of the region, Voroshilovsk was renamed back to Stavropol, and Orkinadze region to Stavropol Krai.

Politics

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Stavropol 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 Stavropol Krai is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Stavropol Krai is the province's regional 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 Government, 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 krai Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Demographics

Population

According to the 2010 Census, the population of the krai is 2,786,281;^[6] up from 2,735,139 recorded in the 2002 Census^[10] and further up from 2,410,379 recorded in the 1989 Census.^[11] The population of the krai is concentrated in the Kuban River and the Kuma River drainage basin, which used to be traditional Cossack land (see History of Cossacks). The Kuban Cossacks are now generally considered to be ethnic Russians, even though they are still an important minority in their own right in this area. Other notable ethnic groups include the Armenians (mostly Christian Hamsheni) and Pontic Greeks (here usually referred to as Caucasus Greeks) who have been settling in the area as refugees or 'economic migrants' from as early as the fall of the Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia to the Ottomans in 1461 but especially following the two Russo-Turkish Wars of 1768-74 and 1828-29.

Ethnic groups

The 2010 Census counted thirty-three ethnic groups of more than 2,000 persons each, making this federal subject one of the most multiethnic in Russia. The inhabitants identified themselves as belonging to more than 140 different ethnic groups, as shown in the following table:^[6]

Population	Ethnicity	Percentage of total population
2,232,153	Russians	80.9%
161,324	Armenians	5.9%
49,302	Dargins	1.8%
33,573	Caucasus Greeks	1.2%
30,879	Romani people	1.1%
30,373	Ukrainians	1.1%
22,006	Nogais	0.8%
15,598	Karachay	0.6%
17,800	Azerbaijanis	0.6%
15,048	Turkmens	0.5%
11,980	Chechens	0.4%
11,795	Tatars	0.4%
7,988	Ossetians	0.3%
10,419	Turks	0.4%
7,104	Belarusians	0.3%
6,759	Koreans	0.2%
55,946	Others	2%

• 26,855 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.^[12]

Vital Statistics for 2007: Source

• Birth Rate: 11.22 per 1,000
• Death Rate: 13.32 per 1,000
• Net Immigration: +3.5 per 1,000
• NGR: -0.21% per Year
• PGR: +0.14% per Year

Vital statistics for 2012

• Births: 34 768 (12.5 per 1000)
• Deaths: 33 356 (12.0 per 1000) ^[13]

• Total fertility rate:^[14]

2009 - 1.45 | 2010 - 1.44 | 2011 - 1.43 | 2012 - 1.52 | 2013 - 1.55 | 2014 - 1.61(e)

Religion

According to a 2012 official survey^[15] 46.9% of the population of Stavropol Krai adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 7% are unaffiliated generic Christians, 5% are Muslims, 1% adheres to other Orthodox Churches, and 1% of the population adheres to Rodnovery. In addition, 19% of the population deems itself to be "spiritual but not religious", 16% is atheist, and 7.1% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.^[15]

Administrative divisions

Stavropol Krai is administratively divided into twenty-six districts (raions ) and ten cities/towns. The districts are further subdivided into nine towns of district subordinance, seven urban-type settlements, and 284 rural okrugs and stanitsa okrugs.

Agriculture

Irrigated agriculture is well developed in the region. As of the beginning of 2001, Stavropol Krai had 3,361 km of irrigation canals, of which 959 km were lined (i.e., had concrete or stone walls, rather than merely soil walls, to reduce the loss of water).^[17]

Among the major irrigation canals are:^[17]

• Nevinnomyssk Canal (Невинномысский канал), the trunk of the Kuban-Yegorlyk Irrigation System.
• The Great Stavropol Canal (Большой Ставропольский канал), transporting water from the Kuban River eastward across the entire krai.
• The Terek-Kuma Canal and Kuma-Manych Canal, transporting water from the Terek River via the Kuma River to the East Manych River.

See also

• North Caucasus Krai
• Fyodor Kulakov, a former Soviet governor of Stavropol Krai who was Brezhnev's apparent heir.
• Stavropol Krai is the birthplace of two General Secretaries of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union: Yuri Andropov (1982–1984) and Mikhail Gorbachev (1985–1991).

Notes

References

• Государственная Дума Ставропольского края. №6-кз 12 октября 1994 г. «Устав (Основной Закон) Ставропольского края», в ред. Закона №112-кз от 9 декабря 2014 г. «О поправке к Уставу (Основному Закону) Ставропольского края». Опубликован: "Ставропольская правда", №198–199, 14 октября 1994 г. (State Duma of Stavropol Krai. #6-kz October 12, 1994 Charter (Basic Law) of Stavropol Krai, as amended by the Law #112-kz of December 9, 2014 On the Amendment of the Charter (Basic Law) of Stavropol Krai. ).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stavropol Krai.

• News and events of Stavropol Krai
• (Russian) Stavropol Krai News Portal

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