Irkutsk Oblast

Irkutsk Oblast (English) Иркутская область (Russian)
Coordinates: 52°17′N 104°16′E / 52.283°N 104.267°E / 52.283; 104.267Coordinates: 52°17′N 104°16′E / 52.283°N 104.267°E / 52.283; 104.267
Coat of Arms	Flag
Coat of arms of Irkutsk Oblast	Flag of Irkutsk Oblast
Anthem: None
Administrative center	Irkutsk
Established	September 26, 1937
Political status	Oblast
Federal District	Siberian[1]
Economic region	East Siberian[2]
Area[3]	767,900 km2 (296,487.8 sq mi)
- Rank within Russia	5th
Code ISO 3166-2:RU	38 RU-IRK
Population (as of the 2002 Census)
Population[4]	2,581,705 inhabitants
- Rank within Russia	20th
- Density	3.4 /km2 (8.8/sq mi)
- Urban[4]	79.3%
- Rural[4]	20.7%
Official language(s)	Russian[5]
Government (as of August 2009)
Governor[6]	Dmitry Mezentsev[7]
Legislative body	Legislative Assembly[8]
Charter	Charter of Irkutsk Oblast
Official website
http://www.govirk.ru/

Irkutsk Oblast (Russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in south-eastern Siberia in the basins of Angara River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is Irkutsk.

History

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Geography

The Circum-Baikal Railway skirts the southwestern tip of Lake Baikal

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 north-east, and with Zabaykalsky Krai in the east.

The unique and world-famous Lake Baikal is located in the southeast of the region. It is drained by the Angara, which flows north across the province; the outflow rate is controlled by the Irkutsk Dam. The two other major dams on the Irkutsk Oblast's section of the Angara are at Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk; both forming large reservoirs. The Lena has its source in Irkutsk Oblast as well, and flows north-east into the neighboring Sakha Republic.

Irkutsk Oblast consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the Central Siberian Plateau and of its eastern extension, the Patom Plateau.

Climate

The climate varies from warm summer continental in the south to continental-subarctic in the 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).^[9] Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of −14.9 °C (5.2 °F) and average lows of −25.3 °C (−13.5 °F) in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is 24.5 °C (76.1 °F) and the average low is 11.2 °C (52.2 °F). However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily maximum of 15.3 °C (59.5 °F) and an average daily minimum of 2.5 °C (36.5 °F).^[10][11] More than half of all precipitation falls in the summer months, with the wettest month being July, with 96.2 mm (3.79 in) of rain. January is the driest month, with only 11 mm (0.4 in) of precipitation. Annual precipitation averages 419.8 mm (16.53 in).^[12]

Economy

The Ust-Ilimsk Dam

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 10% higher than in Russia overall^{[citation needed]}.

Administrative divisions

Demographics

The population of the oblast is 2.77 million, of whom 79.6% live in urban areas, and 20.4% in rural areas. The oblast is very thinly populated, with a population density of 3.5 people per square kilometer, compared to a national average of 8.7. Irkutsk is the administrative center and largest city, with 594,500 residents. Other large cities are Angarsk (267,000 people), Bratsk (253,600 people), Usolye-Sibirskoye (104,300 people), and Ust-Ilimsk (107,200 people).

Most of the population are ethnic Russians. A minority group, the Buryats, have a special Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug inside the oblast. Russians and other Slavic/Germanic groups make up 93.38% of the population, according to the 2002 Census, while Buryats are 3.1%. Tofalars number 837, an increase from 722 in 1989.

One small ethnic group, concentrated in three villages (Pikhtinsk, Sredne-Pikhtinsk, and Dagnik) in Zalarinsky District is the so-called "Bug Hollanders": descendants of Polish-speaking Lutheran farmers who had moved to Siberia from the then Russian Volhynia in 1911-1912 in search of affordable land. Although they had long lost German (or Dutch) language of their ancestors (even in the early 20th century they spoke Ukrainian and read Polish), they were still considered ethnic Germans, and during World War II were usually drafted for work in labor camps, instead of front-line military service.^[13]

Irkutsk Oblast registered natural population growth in 2008, first time after 1993.^[14] But still the future prospects for population growth in Irkutsk seems bleak. In 2007, women in Irkutsk were having an average of 1.602 children each. Fertility rate was extremely low in urban areas, where women were having just 1.477 children each. In Rural areas however, the Fertility rate was slightly above replaceable levels. In rural areas of Irkutsk Oblast, women were having an average of 2.165 children each. (Figures are not available for 2008, although for Russia as a whole Fertility rates for 2008 were approx. 6% higher than that in 2007, and for Irkutsk 9% higher).^[15]

Vital Statistics for 2008

• Population: 2,505,577
• Urban Pop: 1,976,459
• Rural Pop: 529,118
• Births: 37,548(2008)
• Birth rate: 14.99 (2008)
• Urban Birth Rate: 14.06 (2008)
• Rural Birth Rate: 18.43 (2008)
• Deaths: 35,359 (2008)
• Death rate: 14.11 (2008)
• Urban Death Rate: 13.82 (2008)
• Rural Death Rate: 15.21 (2008)
• TFR: 1.734 children per women. (2008)
• Urban TFR: 1.585 children per women. (2008)
• Rural TFR: 2.392 children per women. (2008) ^[16]
• Natural Growth Rate: +0.08% per year (+0.02% in Urban areas & +0.32% in Rural areas).

Health

Despite its remoteness, Irkutsk was reported in 2004 to have the highest HIV infection rate in Russia.^[18] Tens of thousands of drug addicts, mostly ethnic Russians in their mid to late teens are infected. Experts usually say that the entire generation born during the 80s were "wasted". The number of reported AIDS cases increased by more than 10,000% during the 1999-2000 period. Although the epidemic, which started in 1999, is reported to have slowed down, Irkutsk will lose tens of thousands of its working age population from 2010 onwards. This is one of the reasons Irkutsk's male life expectancy, at 53 years, is one of the lowest in all of Russia. Preventive measures are in place to prevent the spread of the epidemic to the generation which was born after the breakup of the USSR.^{[19][20][21][22][23][24]}

See also

• Music of Irkutsk

References

Sources

• 17 апреля 2009 г. «Устав Иркутской области». Вступил в силу по истечении десяти дней после дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Областная", №45, 24 апреля 2009 г. (April 17, 2009 Charter of Irkutsk Oblast. Effective as of the date which is ten days after the official publication date).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Irkutsk Oblast

• Kommersant.com. Information about Irkutsk Oblast.