Republic of Bashkortostan
Republic of Bashkortostan
The Republic of Bashkortostan, a constituent entity of the Russian Federation, is part of the Volga Federal District.
Location
Bashkortostan is located in the southern part of the Ural Mountains on the geographical border between Europe and Asia.
Capital
The capital of Bashkortostan is Ufa, which has a population of over one million.
Population
With a population of over 4.5 million people, the Republic of Bashkortostan is the seventh most populous constituent entity in Russia. The population density is 28.3 people per square kilometre, as compared to an average density of 8.3 people per square kilometre for all of Russia.
Over one hundred different ethnicities live in Bashkortostan, including Russians (36.3% of the population), Bashkirs (29.8%) and Tatars (24.1%), as well as Chuvash, Mari, Ukrainians, Mordvins, Germans and others.
Official language
The constitution of Bashkortostan states that the republic's official languages are Bashkir and Russian..
Government
The head of Bashkortostan's government and the republic's highest official is the President. The republic's highest legislative and representative body is the State Assembly, or Kurultai, and the highest executive body is the Government.
The republic's first president, Murtaza Rakhimov, was first elected in December of 1993 and twice re-elected in direct elections. In 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to the local Parliament to vest Murtaza Rakhimov with authority of President of the Republic of Bashkortostan. President Rakhimov's term ends in 2011.
Economic development
The Republic of Bashkortostan is one of Russia's major industrial and agricultural regions. The republic is also a major oil producer and a centre for the chemical and engineering industries. Bashkortostan has a number of large science and industrial parks that house energy, chemical, engineering and other companies. These science and industrial parks include centres for training personnel, research institutes and experimental manufacturing plants and industrial complexes.
With its high investment rating, Bashkortostan is one of the Russian regions with the lowest investment risk. The territory has long-term credit investment ratings of Bal and BB+, both with stable outlooks.
The republic maintains international economic relations with over 90 countries. Bashkortostan's major trade partners are Czech Republic, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, China, Liechtenstein, Italy, Germany, Finland and Ukraine.
Bashkortostan's government is currently carrying out a number of additional measures to counteract the effects of the global economic crisis and provide support for veterans, government employees, young people, orphans and low-income families with many children. The republic's demographic situation has improved, and the birth rate exceeding the death rate in 2009 for the first time in the past 16 years.
