Kirov Region
The Kirov Region is part of Russia's Volga Federal District. It's administrative centre is the city of Kirov.
The region spans an area of 120,400 square kilometres and has population of 1.4 million people, 72% of which reside in urban communities and 28% in rural ones. The region's population is 91.8% ethnic Russian, 2.6% Mari, 2.2% Tatar, and 1.4% Udmurt and other ethnic groups.
The region's primary natural resources are timber, mineral deposits, and water. The Kirov Region's timber reserves exceed 1.2 billion cubic metres, making it Russia's 19th richest. It boasts 2 billion tonnes of rock phosphate deposits, accounting for 45% of the national total, as well as 1,734 sites of peat deposits with consolidated reserves of 1.1 billion tonnes.
Industry accounts for about 30.7% of the gross regional product; agriculture, hunting, and forestry account for 10.1%; construction for 5.7%; transport and communications for 11.8%; and wholesale and retail activities, motor vehicle maintenance, and repairs of home appliances account for a further 12.7%. The remaining 29% of the gross regional product is attributed to other activities.
The region's processing industry includes about 200 large and medium-sized companies and approximately 9,600 small businesses.
Almost 2,000 farms and other enterprises are engaged in agriculture. The most developed branches are animal husbandry, crop growing, and seed growing. The processing and food sectors ensure the region's food security.
The region has 2,200 kilometres of railways, 24,100 kilometres of roads, and 1,800 kilometres of waterways.
The market economy infrastructure includes 3 regional commercial banks; 22 branches of commercial banks from other Russian regions; 38 branch offices of insurance companies from other Russian regions; major leasing, financial, auditing, management, and consulting companies; 3 branch offices of stockbrokers and registrars; and the Vyatka Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Over 400 enterprises in the Kirov Region, including about 300 legal and 100 physical persons, are engaged in foreign trade. The Kirov Region enjoys well-established foreign trade ties with more than 80 countries, and relations with 40 of them are bilateral.
The Kirov Region mainly exports products in the petrochemical and timber sectors, machine engineering, rawhide, and food products.
The region imports machine engineering, chemical, and timber goods, metals, textiles, and natural leather products.
The region's education system includes 32 higher education institutions and their affiliate branches; 59 vocational training schools; 31 professional education institutions; and 627 primary and secondary schools with 66 branches, including 11 gymnasia, 10 lyceums, 57 schools providing advanced programmes in various subjects, and 132 institutions of further education.
The Kirov Region boasts 3,500 cultural and historic monuments, 883 of which are listed. It is home to five national culture centres, 39 regional and municipal museums, three theatres, a philharmonic society, a concert hall for organ and chamber music, a circus, and centres for traditional crafts.
In 2010, the Kirov Region's industrial production index grew by 9.2% against 2009. The index grew due to an increase of 13% in processing industries while the production of natural resources remained almost at the same level and the performance of the fuel and energy sector decreased by 4.5%.
According to preliminary data, agricultural production amounted to 21.9 billion roubles in 2010, which is 3.4% less than in 2009 if adjusted to current prices. The amount of goods produced fell by 11.7%.
In total, farming establishments harvested 501,000 tons of grain and legume, which is 37.5% less than in 2009. The decrease was caused by severe weather conditions.
Animal husbandry establishments produced a total of 93,800 tons of livestock and poultry meat in 2010, which is 0.4% less than in 2009; 506,800 tons of milk, or 0.7% more than in 2009; and 481.5 million eggs, or 5.2% more than in 2009.
In 2010, 370,800 square metres of housing were commissioned, including 71,700 square metres in rural areas and 299,100 square metres in urban communities, which is 10.4% more than in the previous year.
As of January 1, 2011, 18,700 people were registered as unemployed.
