Volgograd Oblast (russian: Волгогра́дская о́бласть, ''Volgogradskaya oblast'') is a

federal subject The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (russian ...

(an

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdom ...

) of

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, located in the

Volga The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

region of

Southern Russia Southern Russia or the South of Russia (russian: Юг России, ''Yug Rossii'') is a colloquial term for the southernmost geographic portion of European Russia generally covering the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasian Federal ...

. Its

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, L ...

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

. The population of the oblast was 2,610,161 in the 2010 Census. Formerly known as Stalingrad Oblast, it was given its present name in 1961, when the city of Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd as part of de-Stalinization. Volgograd Oblast borders

Rostov Oblast Rostov Oblast ( rus, Росто́вская о́бласть, r=Rostovskaya oblast, p=rɐˈstofskəjə ˈobləsʲtʲ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Southern Federal District. The oblast has an area of and a populat ...

in the southwest,

Voronezh Oblast Voronezh Oblast (russian: Воронежская область, Voronezhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Voronezh. Its population was 2,308,792 as of the 2021 Census. Geography ...

in the northwest,

Saratov Oblast Saratov Oblast (russian: Сара́товская о́бласть, ''Saratovskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Saratov. As of the 2010 Ce ...

in the north, Astrakhan Oblast and the

Republic of Kalmykia

he official languages of the Republic of Kalmykia are the Kalmyk and Russian languages. He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

, official_lang_list=Kalmyk language, Kalmyk , official_lang_ref=Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 17: international border with Kazakhstan in the east. The two main rivers in European Russia, the Don and the

, run through the oblast and are connected by the

Volga–Don Canal Lenin Volga–Don Shipping Canal ( Russian:Волго-Донской судоходный канал имени, ''В. И. Ленина, Volga-Donskoy soudokhodniy kanal imeni V. I. Lenina'', abbreviated ВДСК, ''VDSK'') is a ship canal in Ru ...

. Volgograd Oblast's strategic waterways have made it a popular route for

shipping Freight transport, also referred as ''Freight Forwarding'', is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ex ...

and for the generation of

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined a ...

. Volgograd Oblast was the primary site of the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later re ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, often regarded as one of the single largest and the bloodiest battles in the history of warfare.

Geography

*Borders length: Volgograd Oblast borders with

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901 ...

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While ...

Astrakhan Astrakhan ( rus, Астрахань, p=ˈastrəxənʲ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in Southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of ...

, and

s, as well as with

Kalmykia he official languages of the Republic of Kalmykia are the Kalmyk and Russian languages./ref> , official_lang_list= Kalmyk , official_lang_ref=Steppe Code (Constitution) of the Republic of Kalmykia, Article 17: he official languages of the R ...

of Russia and with

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental coun ...

(

West Kazakhstan Region West Kazakhstan Region ( kk, Батыс Қазақстан облысы, translit=Batys Qazaqstan oblysy; russian: Западно-Казахстанская область, translit=Zapadno-Kazakhstanskaya oblast) is a region of Kazakhstan. The re ...

). Most of Volgograd oblast is located in the

Pontic–Caspian steppe The Pontic–Caspian steppe, formed by the Caspian steppe and the Pontic steppe, is the steppeland stretching from the northern shores of the Black Sea (the Pontus Euxinus of antiquity) to the northern area around the Caspian Sea. It extends ...

. The

Yergeni Yergeni (russian: Ергени; xal, Ergnin җirn zurһan shiir) is a hilly area in Russia. It is located in the southern corner of the East European Plain, mostly in Kalmykia, with parts in Volgograd Oblast and Rostov Oblast. The highest point o ...

hills are located to the southeast. Forests cover 4% of the territory. The major rivers are: *The

Volga River The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchm ...

*The Don River *The Medveditsa River *The

Khopyor River The Khopyor (, also transliterated as Khoper) is a river in European Russia, the biggest left tributary of the river Don (river), Don.Stalingrad Krai.''Volgograd Oblast. Administrative-Territorial Structure'', p. 3 The oblast was given its present name on November 10, 1961.

Administrative divisions

Politics

Volgograd - Building of Regional Committee of KPSS and Executive Committee 002

During the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

period, three people exercised oblast-level authority: #the first secretary of the Volgograd CPSU Committee (who in reality had the most power) #the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power) #the chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power) In 1991 the CPSU lost ''de facto'' power, and the head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament. The Charter of Volgograd Oblast provides the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Volgograd Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body, the Oblast Government, includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day-to-day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor, who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the

Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993. Russia's constitution came into force on 25 December 1993, at the moment of its official publication, and abolished the Soviet system of gov ...

Demographics

Life expectancy in Russian subject -Volgograd Oblast

The population of the oblast was 2,610,161 according to the

2010 Russian census The Russian Census of 2010 (russian: Всеросси́йская пе́репись населе́ния 2010 го́да) was the second census of the Russian Federation population after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preparations for the ...

, 2,699,223 in the

2002 Russian census The Russian Census of 2002 (russian: Всеросси́йская пе́репись населе́ния 2002 го́да) was the first census of the Russian Federation since the dissolution of the Soviet Union, carried out on October 9 through O ...

, and 2,593,944 in the

1989 Soviet census The 1989 Soviet census (russian: Всесоюзная перепись населения 1989, lit=1989 All-Union Census), conducted between 12 and 19 January of that year, was the last one that took place in the Soviet Union. The census found ...

. In 2012, there were 30,252 births (11.7 per 1000) and 35,021 deaths (13.5 per 1000). The total fertility rate was 1.46 in 2009, rising to 1.57 by 2016. Life expectancy:

Settlements

Ethnic groups

(shown are the ethnic groups with a population of more than 7,000 people) *44,541 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.

Religion

According to a 2012 survey 54.5% of the population of Volgograd Oblast adheres to the

Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...

, 4% are unaffiliated generic

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, 2% are Eastern Orthodox Christian believers who don't belong to any church or are members of non-Russian

Eastern Orthodox church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

es, 3% are Muslims. In addition, 18% of the population declares to be "

spiritual but not religious "Spiritual but not religious" (SBNR), also known as "spiritual but not affiliated" (SBNA), is a popular phrase and initialism used to self-identify a life stance of spirituality that does not regard organized religion as the sole or most valuable ...

", 12% is

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

, and 6.5% follows other religions or did not give an answer to the question.

Government

Governor of Volgograd Oblast is Anatoliy Brovko (since 2010) Both the flag and the coat of arms of Volgograd Oblast include an image of ''

The Motherland Calls ''The Motherland Calls'' ( rus, Родина-мать зовёт!, Rodina-mat' zovyot!, t=Homeland-Mother Is Calling!) is the compositional centre of the monument-ensemble "Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on Mamayev Kurgan in Volgograd, ...

'', an 85 meter tall statue located in

Economy

Primary branches of economics are agriculture, food production,

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); ...

, gas and petroleum refining. The

Volga Hydroelectric Station The Volga Hydroelectric Station or Volga GES (russian: Волжская ГЭС) also known as the 22nd Congress of the CPSU Stalingrad/Volgograd Hydroelectric Power Station (russian: Сталинградская/Волгоградская ГЭС ...

operates on the Volga River. The largest companies in the region include

Volzhsky Pipe Plant Volzhsky (masculine), Volzhskaya (feminine), or Volzhskoye (neuter) may refer to: * Volzhsky District, name of several districts and city districts in Russia *Volzhsky (inhabited locality) (''Volzhskaya'', ''Volzhskoye''), name of several inhabited ...

, Volgogradenergosbyt (a local electric power distribution company), OJSC Kaustik (caustic soda manufacturer),

Volzhsky Orgsintez Volzhsky (masculine), Volzhskaya (feminine), or Volzhskoye (neuter) may refer to: *Volzhsky District, name of several districts and city districts in Russia *Volzhsky (inhabited locality) Volzhsky (russian: Во́лжский; masculine), Volzhska ...

(a chemical plant).

References

Notes

Sources

* *Исполнительный комитет Волгоградского областного Совета депутатов трудящихся. "Волгоградская область. Административно-территориальное деление на 1 июля 1968 года" (''Volgograd Oblast. Administrative-Territorial Structure as of July 1, 1968''). Нижне-Волжское книжное издательство. Волгоград, 1969.

External links

Official website of Volgograd OblastCentral Eurasian Information Resource: Images of Volgograd Oblast
– University of Washington Digital Collections {{Use mdy dates, date=August 2014 States and territories established in 1936 Southern Federal District