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About the Archangel Region

Geography, Population, and Climate

The Archangel Region is located in the north of the European part of Russia. Its 1800-mile coast is washed by the cold waters of the White, Barents, and Kara Seas. The region covers 365,000 square miles. The population is about 1.3 million people, of which around 1 million live in cities.

The territory of the region comprises the Nenets Autono­mous District, 20 administrative areas, 14 cities, 31 working settle­ments, about 4,000 rural settle­ments, the island of Novaya Zemlya, and the Franz-Josef Land archi­pelago. The city of Archangel is the capital of the region. The region's other major cities are Severodvinsk, Kotlas, Novodvinsk, and Koryazhma.

The region's climate is transitional between that of the sea and that of the continent. Winter is usually long (about 250 days) and cold, with low temperatures averaging -15 °F and strong winds. Spring comes in southern areas in April; and in the north, in May. The average summer temperature is about 59 °F.

The region has a surplus of water. It has 70,000 rivers, large and small, with a combined length of 171,000 miles. The four largest rivers, the Northern Dvina, the Pechora, the Onega, and the Mezen, flow into the Arctic seas. The wide and deep Nothern Dvina is the region's basic waterway and is navigable throughout its length.

The national composition of the population of Archangel Region is relatively homogeneous. Ethnic Russians comprise 94.2%; Ukrainians, 2.1%; Belarussians, 0.8%; and other nationalities, 2.9%. The population density is 5.7 people per square mile. 74.7% live in the cities and 25.3% live in the country. The average age of the population of 37 years. The labor force comprises 64.3%

Natural Resources

The Archangel Region has significant wood resources. Forests occupy 86,100 square miles and the commercially exploitable stock is estimated at 3.3 billion cubic yards. Coniferous species, mainly pine and fir, comprise 80% of the forest stock, while the rest, 20%, is deciduous, mainly birch and aspen.

The region is rich in minerals. An effective industrial infrastructure has been created for the extraction and processing of minerals. In the Nenets Autonomous District, drilling for oil and natural gas is conducted; in the Plesetsk area, bauxite is mined. The Archangel Region is also the only province in Europe where diamonds have been discovered.

In the region, there are significant reserves of limestone, dolomite, raw materials for making cement, gypsum, anhydrite, sand, clay, fusible loam, construction stones, groundwater, manganese, copper ores, zinc, lead, amber, jewelry agates, and other minerals.

Branches of the Economy

The major industries of the region are forestry, fishing, shipbuilding, and aerospace. There are more than 24 thousand registered enterprises in the region.

Translated and adapted from Informatsiya ob oblasti on the web site of the Government of the Archangel Region.

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