Berdiansk Raion, also spelled Berdyansk Raion () is one of the five

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

s (

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

s) of

Zaporizhzhia Oblast Zaporizhzhia Oblast (), commonly referred to as Zaporizhzhia (), is an oblast (region) in south-east Ukraine. Its administrative centre is the city of Zaporizhzhia. The oblast covers an area of , and has a population of The oblast is an import ...

in southern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. The administrative center of the region is

Berdiansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The c ...

. The raion has access to the northern coast of the

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov is an inland Continental shelf#Shelf seas, shelf sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, and sometimes regarded as a northern extension of the Black Sea. The sea is bounded by Ru ...

. The population is

Geography

Berdyansk district is located on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast, on the

Black Sea Lowland The Black Sea Lowland or Cisblack-sea Lowland () is a major geographic feature of the Northern Pontic region and the East European Plain. It is almost completely within Southern Ukraine covering half of its territory. Location The lowland is lo ...

and the Azov Upland.Національний атлас України, с. 42 Retrieved 29 June 2025 Typical landscapes for Berdyansk district are

steppes In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the tropical and subtropical gr ...

chernozems Chernozem ( ),; also called black soil, regur soil or black cotton soil, is a black-colored soil containing a high percentage of humus (4% to 16%) and high percentages of phosphorus and ammonia compounds. Chernozem is very fertile soil and can ...

. There are salt marshes. Steppe vegetation, due to plowing, has been preserved mainly on the slopes of river valleys and gullies.Запорізька область: природа, історія: ілюстрована енциклопедія. — Запоріжжя: Дике Поле, 2004. — 248 с. — Retrieved 29 June 2025 The and rivers flow through Berdyansk district. The climate of the district is temperate continental with dry periods, but there is a softening of the climate due to the proximity to the Sea of Azov. According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the climate of the Berdyansk district is humid continental with hot summers (Dfa).

History

From 1923 to 1925, it was known Novospasivka Raion (), after its then-center Novospasivka (now

Osypenko, Zaporizhzhia Oblast Osypenko () is a village (''selo'') in Berdiansk Raion, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southern Ukraine. It is located on the left bank of the river Berda, and is the administrative center of Osypenko rural hromada. History 19th century The village was ...

). In 1925, the administrative center was moved to

, and it was renamed ''Berdiansk Raion''. Retrieved 29 June 2025 From 1939 to 1958, it was known as Osypenko Raion (). During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Osypenko Raion was occupied by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

between October 1941 and September 1943. 3,260 people from Osypenko Raion were deported to Germany for forced labor and 300 were murdered. The January 2020 estimate of the raion population was On 18 July 2020, as part of the administrative reform of Ukraine, the number of raions of Zaporizhzhia Oblast was reduced to five, and the area of Berdiansk Raion was significantly expanded. Retrieved 29 June 2025

Demographics

As of the

2001 Ukrainian census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.city of oblast significance) had a population of 31,631 people. In terms of self-reported ethnic background, 73% were

Ukrainians Ukrainians (, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. Their native tongue is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian, and the majority adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, forming the List of contemporary eth ...

and 17% were

Russians Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church ...

, with small minorities of

Belarusians Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99&n ...

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

, and

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

Bibliography

* Національний атлас України/НАН України, Інститут географії, Державна служба геодезії, картографії та кадастру; голов. ред. Л. Г. Руденко; голова ред. кол.Б.Є. Патон. — К.: ДНВП «Картографія», 2007. — 435 с. — 5 тис.прим. — . * Географічна енциклопедія України : � 3 т./ редкол.: О. М. Маринич (відповід. ред.) та ін. — К., 1989—1993. — 33 000 екз. — .

References

Raions of Zaporizhzhia Oblast Berdiansk Raion 1923 establishments in Ukraine {{Authority control