VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
ARCHIVE OF THE OFFICIAL SITE
OF THE 2008-2012 PRIME MINISTER
OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
VLADIMIR PUTIN
Togliatti was founded on June 20, 1737. The city has a total area of 314.8 square kilometres with a population of 741,000.
Founded in 1737 as Stavropol-on-Volga by one of Peter the Great's supporters, Vasily Tatishchev, the city served as a fortress against attacks by nomadic tribes. Baptised Kalmyks would settle there (Stavropol is translated from Greek as the City of the Holy Cross).
In 1950, the construction of the Volga Hydropower Plant began in Stavropol-on-Volga. The plant achieved design capacity in 1957. The old town was flooded and disappeared at the bottom of the Kuibyshev reservoir. As a result, the city was completely rebuilt on a new site and became an industrial centre. In 1964, it was renamed Togliatti after Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party.
In 1966, the construction of the Volga Automobile Plant, one of Russia's largest car manufacturers, began. Togliatti's Avtozavodsky living district was built at the same time.
Today the city's industry is based on automobile production (AvtoVAZ), machine building, the chemical industry (synthetic rubber, mineral fertilizers, detergents, yellow phosphorus, and more), and the construction industry.
Togliatti is the region's major exporter accounting for 58.3% of the total export volume. Togliatti exports its products to over 90 countries.
In 2010, the city's industrial production grew by 37.2%. In the first quarter of 2011, it increased by 50.8%.
After normal operations at AvtoVAZ were restored, the unemployment rate in Togliatti fell by 7,800 people (1.9 times) to a rate of 1.9% (9,000 people) in May 2011, compared to 3.6% at the beginning of 2010. There were 1,600 part-time workers compared to 62,000 at the beginning of 2010.
Togliatti is the only city in the Samara Region with a natural population increase.
