Brief Description

Rostov Region as an administrative body was founded in compliance with the Provision of the Central Committee of the USSR on September 13, 1937. The territory of Rostov Region with its total area of some 100.8 thousand square kilometers is equal to Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark, taken together.

Rostov Region has borders with the following territories: Voronezh and Volgograd Regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar Regions, the Republic of Kalmykiya and Ukraine.

The region stands out among other large territorial units of the Russian Federation due to its high scientific, industrial, resource and financial potential.

The development of the region’s economy is mainly influenced by such factors as its favourable economic and geographical position (the region brings together central Russia, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia),  the abundance of natural resources, the historical development advantages, the presence of excellent human labour resources and a well-developed transportation infrastructure.

By the pace of economic reforms in recent years and the volume of production of different goods and services, the region occupies one of the leading positions both in the Southern Federal Unit and in the Russian Federation, in general.

The region is surrounded by economically advanced territories: Donbass in the west, the central part of the Russian Federation in the north and northeast, the Volga region in the east and Caucasus in the south. In the zone of approximately 1.0 to 1.5 thousand kilometers around Rostov Region’s border, the country’s richest coal, oil and gas extraction, metal production, machine-building, chemical and agricultural centers and districts are situated. A lot of the goods exchanged between these districts go through the territory of Rostov Region.

The Don River flows across the territory of the region. The Don is one of the largest rivers in Europe, with numerous branches and tributaries.

Mineral resources include the minerals of the fuel and energy group. Among these are the coals of the Eastern Donbass, mainly anthracite, the best coal in the world by the level of calorie content.

The fields of non-metallic rock minerals are being exploited, supplying raw materials for the metal industry and construction materials production. The explored reserves of natural gas are estimated at being around 56.2 billion cubic meters.

The timber resources of the region are not very rich, taking up only 2.8% of the region’s territory. They are mainly represented by the forests that fulfill water-protective and other environment-safeguarding functions.

The recreational resources include the resorts of local importance for summer recreation. These resorts are rich in mineral water and have good potential for international tourism development.

Administrative and Territorial Division. Population.

In the administrative and territorial division the region includes 55 main administrative units, including: 23 cities and towns (among them, 16 of regional subordination and 7 of district subordination), 25 settlements with town status, 43 rural districts, including 2287 rural settlements.

The city of Rostov-on-Don is the administrative center of the region. This city, with a population of more than one million people, is a large industrial, cultural and scientific center in the country. It is also a big river port and an important transportation junction. In 2002, the city acquired additional political and economic importance, having become the capital of the Southern Federal Unit.

Following are some of the large towns in the Region: Taganrog – with a population of 281.9 thousand people, Shakhty with 254.7 thousand people, Novocherkassk with 184.47 thousand people, Volgodonsk with 172.4 thousand people and Novoshakhtinks with 117.6 thousand people (according to the census of 2002).

The population of the region is 4404.013 thousand people (according to the census of 2002). More than two-thirds of the whole population lived in the cities and towns. The region ranks 5th in the Russian Federation in terms of its size of the population.

The population density is 42.5 persons per 1 square kilometer.

As for the national composition, 90% of the population is Russian, 3.4% Ukrainian, 1.8% Armenian and 0.9% Byelorussian. All in all, representatives of more than 100 different nationalities live in Rostov Region. The mutual respect of the peoples and the traditionally close economic and cultural bonds are the main values highly appreciated and carefully guarded on the Don.

The able-bodied population comprises about 70% of the total amount. The educational level of the people in the economically active age is quite high. Thus, for every 1000 people, 300 have secondary specialized education, 400 – secondary general education, 87 – unfinished secondary education, 12 - unfinished higher education and 190 completed higher education degree.

The average annual number of individuals employed in economic activities is 1.75 million people, among them are 1.2 million people working in private enterprises and organizations.