The city of Kirov is located on the left bank of the Vyatka River.
The city was founded in 1374 and was called Vyatka at the time. Starting in the 15th century, it was known as Khlynov, until it was renamed as Vyatka. The city received its current name in 1934. It is home to a population of about 480,000 people.
Kirov is a large industrial and transport hub. The backbone of the city's economy is its production sector, including enterprises producing and distributing electric energy, natural gas, and water, as well as transport, construction and communications companies.
The leading industries in Kirov are machine engineering and metal processing, metallurgy, the production of rubber and plastic goods, the food, timber, and paper sectors, and the production of electric energy. These industries account for 81% of Kirov's industrial production.
The largest facilities in machine engineering and metal processing are the Lepse Electrical Machine Engineering Plant, which manufactures electric engines, generators, and various starting, energy control and transforming equipment; the First of May Kirov Machine Engineering Plant, which designs and manufactures railway equipment and high capacity railway cranes to build and repair tracks; the Novo-Vyatka plant, which manufactures electrical distribution equipment; and the Vesta company, which produces washing machines.
Its leading metallurgical facility is the Kirov Plant for Non-Ferrous Metal Processing, which specialises in slabs, plates, straps, rods, pipes and wires.
Leading food industry enterprises are the Kirov Dairy Plant, the Kirov Meat Factory, the Kirov Margarine Factory, the Kirov Cold Storage Facility, and the Bakery and Confectionery Factory.
Kirov's major timber processing facilities are the Novovyatsky Ski Factory, the Novaya Vyatka Wood Boards Factory, the Vyatka Plywood Mill, the Novovyatsky Wood Processing Mill, the Kirov Furniture and Wood Processing Factory, and the Vyatka Publishing House.
The city also has highly developed traditional crafts sector, including the prominent Dymkovo clay toys and souvenirs made of burl and birch bark.