Irkutsk Oblast

Infobox Russian federal subject
EnglishName=Irkutsk Oblast
RussianName=Иркутская область
Locator

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LocatorMap



CoatOfArmsLink=Coat of arms of Irkutsk Oblast


FlagLink=Flag of Irkutsk Oblast
AnthemLink="None"
AdmCtrOrCapital=Administrative center
AdmCtrName=Irkutsk
FoundationDate=September 26, 1937
PoliticalStatus=Oblast
PoliticalStatusLink=Oblasts of Russia
FederalDistrict=Siberian
EconomicRegion= East Siberian
CodeNumber=38
Area=767900
AreaRank=7th
Population=2581705
PopulationRank=21st
UrbanPopulation=79.3%
RuralPopulation=20.7%
LangLangs
LangList=Russian
HeadTitle=Governor
HeadName=Alexander Tishanin
PrimeTitle
PrimeName
Legislature=Legislative Assembly
ConstitutionType=Charter
ConstitutionName=Charter of Irkutsk Oblast
Website=http://www.govirk.ru/

Irkutsk Oblast ( _ru. 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.

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

Time zone

Irkutsk Oblast is located in the Irkutsk Time Zone (IRKT/IRKST). UTC offset is +0800 (IRKT)/+0900 (IRKST).

Climate

The climate varies from warm summer continental in the south to continental-subarctic in the northern part (: "Dwc"). For almost half the year, from mid-October until the beginning of April, the average temperature is below C to F|0 [http://www.icc.ru/fed/climat.html] . Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of C to F|-14.9 and average lows of C to F|-25.3 in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is C to F|24.5 and the average low is C to F|11.2. However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily maximum of C to F|15.3 and an average daily minimum of C to F|2.5 [http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N52E104+1200+0048321G2] [http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N52E104+1204+0048321G2] . 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) [http://www.worldclimate.com/cgi-bin/data.pl?ref=N52E104+2100+30710W] .

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 overallFact|date=February 2007.

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.

One small ethnic group, concentrated in three villages (Pikhtinsk, Sredne-Pikhtinsk, and Dagnik) in the Zalari 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. [Olga Solovyova (Ольга Соловьева) [http://www.strana-oz.ru/?numid=27&article=1189 "Bug 'Hollanders'" (БУЖСКИЕ ГОЛЕНДРЫ)] ru icon]
Tofalars number 837, an increase from 722 in 1989.

Vital Statistics for 2007

*Births: 34,711 (13.81 per 1000, 13.11 in Urban areas & 16.44 in Rural areas) [http://www.gks.ru] .
*Deaths: 35,157 (13.99 per 1000, 13.75 in Urban areas & 14.88 in Rural areas).
*Natural Growth Rate: -0.02% per year (-0.06% in Urban areas & +0.16% in Rural areas).

ee also

*Music of Irkutsk

References

External links

* [http://www.kommersant.com/p-41/r_384/Irkutsk_Region/ Kommersant.com] . Information about Irkutsk Oblast.