Samara is the administrative centre of the Samara Region. It is 50 km long and 20 km wide. It has a population of 1,164,000 people.
Samara is a large centre of mechanical engineering and metals industries, food production as well as the space and aircraft industries. It has more than 150 big and medium industrial enterprises.
The city is one of Russia's biggest transportation hubs, offering the shortest routes from Central and Western Europe to Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Two federal highway routes pass through it - Moscow-Samara-Ufa-Chelyabinsk and Samara-Uralsk-Aktyubinsk-Chimkent.
Kurumoch International Airport serves the region.
The Kuibyshev Railway also passes through the city. Plans to launch a high-speed rail service between Samara-Moscow and Samara-Saratov are being drafted under Russian Railways investment programme.
The city has 37 higher educational institutions, 51 technical and vocational schools, 182 general education schools and 215 pre-school educational centres.