Nizhny Novgorod is the fifth largest city in Russia with the population of 1,278,000 people.
Founded in 1221, the city was known as Gorky (after the writer Maxim Gorky) from 1932 to 1990.
Nizhny Novgorod is Russia's important industrial centre, with machine-building, metalworking, petrochemistry, information technologies and scientific research being the leading sectors.
Automotive industry, shipbuilding and arms manufacture account for the major part of industrial production. The largest enterprises are the Gorky Automobile Plant (GAZ), the Krasnoye Sormovo shipbuilding plant, the Sokol aircraft building plant and the Nizhny Novgorod Machine-building Plant.
The total number of employees at the regional industrial enterprises is about 114,000 people. The city accounts for 47 percent of the industrial output of the Nizhny Novgorod region.
The city's economy went on functioning amid the overall economic downturn in 2010. Nevertheless, the industrial output in the processing sector grew as compared to 2009.
Production of transport vehicles and equipment accounts for the major part of industrial output, exceeding 31 billion roubles. Production of foodstuffs, including drinks and tobacco, comes second (over 14 billion roubles).
As of June 1, 2010, the city companies and organisations, without account of small businesses, gained profit of 14.5 billion roubles.
Nizhny Novgorod is both an economically developed city and a major cultural centre of the Volga Federal District. There are more than 600 unique historic, architectural, and cultural monuments in the city, the Kremlin being a landmark. The Nizhny Novgorod fair is another famous historical place. The highest Volga embankment is also located in Nizhny Novgorod.
The city's mayor is Oleg Sorokin.