Kirov Oblast ( rus, Кировская область, p=ˈkʲirəfskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

(an

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

) located in

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

. Its

administrative center An administrative centre is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune, is located. In countries with French as the administrative language, such as Belgiu ...

is the

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

of Kirov. As of the 2010 census, the population is 1,341,312.

Geography

The oblast is bordered by Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Kostroma and

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,119,115 as of the 2021 Ru ...

s, as well by the republics of Mari El, Tatarstan and Udmurtia and one krai ( Perm). Animals living in the oblast include

bear Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family (biology), family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats ...

s, beavers, squirrels,

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

, wolves, etc.

Natural resources

Natural resources include forests (mostly conifers),

phosphate Phosphates are the naturally occurring form of the element phosphorus. In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthop ...

rock,

peat Peat is an accumulation of partially Decomposition, decayed vegetation or organic matter. It is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, Moorland, moors, or muskegs. ''Sphagnum'' moss, also called peat moss, is one of the most ...

, furs, water and land. There are widespread deposits of

and non-metallic minerals:

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, marl,

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

, sand and gravel, as well as the rare mineral volkonskoite. In recent decades, a minor recoverable oil reserve was revealed in the east of the region, as well as deposits of bentonite clays. The region also contains the Vyatsko-Kama deposit of phosphate rock, the largest in Europe. Rich in mineral springs, the Kumyonsky District contains the resort town of Nizhneivkino.

Hydrography

Kirov Oblast is characterized by diverse hydrography, including numerous rivers, lakes, and reservoirs which play an essential role in its geography, economy, and ecology. The hydrographic network of Kirov Oblast is dominated by the Volga River basin, one of the largest river systems in Europe, but additionally encompasses the Severodvinsk. The rivers in Kirov Oblast are numerous, with more than 19,000 rivers and streams and spanning 66.7 kilometers. Some of the most significant rivers include the Vyatka, Moloma, Cheptsa, and Kama rivers. The region contains approximately 4,500 lakes, many of which are of glacial origin, with a combined water surface area of 5.5 million hectares. These lakes provide habitats for various species of fish and birds and are often used for recreational purposes. The rivers and lakes of Kirov Oblast are integral to the region's natural environment and economy, providing water for agriculture, supporting fisheries, and transportation.

History

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vyatka remained a place of exile for opponents of the tsarist regime, including many prominent revolutionary figures. In 1920, a number of small southern and eastern districts (volosti) and villages were shifted from Vyatka as a result of the formation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Mari and Votskaya (now the Udmurt Republic) autonomous regions. The territory did not escape the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

and intervention of 1918–1921. Then between 1921 and 1922, it was hit by famine, followed by a typhus epidemic in late 1922. The death rate doubled during those years. The postwar period was accompanied by rebuilding of the province on the basis of the New Economic Policy (NEP), which consisted of free trade,

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

, and private sector stimulation. The country's first office of the International Organization for Aid to Fighters of the Revolution (IOAR) began operations here in January 1923. The administrative and territorial reforms of 1929 eliminated the old division of the country into provinces and districts ( Uezd, Volost) and introduced a new system of division into regions, territories, and districts (raiony). Vyatka Province was abolished, and its territory became part of

. The city of Vyatka became a district center. On 5 December 1934, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) passed a resolution renaming the city from Vyatka to Kirov, and Kirov Oblast was formed on 7 December.''Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Union Republics. 1987.'', p. 155 It included the Udmurt Autonomous Region, 37 districts (raiony) of Gorki Region (which had formerly been part of Vyatka Province), as well as Sapapulsky and Votkinsky districts of Sverdlovsk Region. Following the adoption of the new Constitution in 1936, Kirov Territory was transformed into Kirov Region and the Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was separated from it. On 30 October 1997, Kirov, alongside

Astrakhan Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...

, Murmansk, Ulyanovsk, and Yaroslavl, signed a power-sharing agreement with the government of Russia, granting it autonomy. The agreement would be abolished on 24 January 2002.

Administrative divisions

Kirov Oblast was formed on 7 December 1934. It is divided administratively into 39 districts, 6 cities under oblast jurisdiction, 13 town under district jurisdiction, 58 urban-type settlements, and 580 selsoviets.

Economy

Kirov Oblast is part of the Volga–Vyatka economic district located in the central part of European Russia in the Volga and Vyatka river basins. Its economic complex had already begun forming and developing before the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

, in large part because of the transfer points and trading posts located in Vyatka, which later led to the formation of large railway. Trading Centers Agriculture was the priority sector at first, but starting in 1940, there was an upsurge in development of an industrial complex, especially the

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals in order to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term, it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on e ...

, and chemical industries. Kirov Oblast is part of the Volga–Vyatka agricultural zone, where more than half of the area sown in grain is located in Kirov Oblast itself. Agricultural land occupies 27% of the region's territory. The most important grain crops are winter and spring

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

and rye. Barley and oats are grown for fodder. Increased specialization in the production of more promising fodder crops like winter rye,

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, oats that are most suited to the Oblast's climatic conditions is anticipated in the future. Potatoes are also extensively cultivated.

Transportation

*The Dymnoye peat railway operates in Verkhnekamsky District *The Gorokhovskoye peat railway operates in Kotelnichsky District *The Otvorskoye peat railway operates in Kotelnichsky District *The Pishchalskoye peat railway operates in Orichevsky District *The Kobrinskaya narrow-gauge railway for hauling felled logs operates in Murashinsky District *The Oparinskaya narrow-gauge railway for hauling felled logs operates in Oparinsky District

Petroleum infrastructure

2024 oil infrastructure attack

The Kirov Oblast is the site of the Rosrezerves' Zenit oil depot in Kotelnich, a large

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

tank farm installation of the Russian State Reserve. On 28 August 2024, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was attacked and set ablaze by a Ukrainian Armed Forces drone strike. This was the first attack on the region since the start of hostilities, and is deep in inland Russia, over 1000 km from the Ukrainian border.

Politics

During the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Kirov 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 Kirov Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Kirov Oblast is the province's 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 oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Demographics

Population:

Settlements

Vital statistics for 2024: *Births: 7,912 (7.0 per 1,000) *Deaths: 18,131 (16.1 per 1,000) Total fertility rate (2024):
1.43 children per woman Life expectancy (2021):
Total — 69.73 years (male — 64.80, female — 74.68) Ethnic Composition (2010): *

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 ...

– 91.9% * Tatars – 2.8% * Mari people – 2.3% * Udmurts – 1% *

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 ...

– 0.6% *Others – 1.4% *35,385 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.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey 40.1% of the population of Kirov Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 5% are unaffiliated generic

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, 1% are Orthodox Christian believers not belonging to churches or members of non-Russian Orthodox churches, 1% are adherents to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

, 1% to the Old Believers. In addition, 33% of the population deems itself to be "spiritual but not religious", 13% is atheist, and 5.9% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

References

Notes

Sources

* *"СССР. Административно-территориальное деление союзных республик. 1987." (''USSR. Administrative-Territorial Structure of the Union Republics. 1987'') / Составители В. А. Дударев, Н. А. Евсеева. – М.: Изд-во «Известия Советов народных депутатов СССР», 1987. – 673 с.

External links

{{Use mdy dates, date=December 2014 States and territories established in 1936