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Irkutsk Oblast
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Irkutsk Oblast (Irkutskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in south-eastern Siberia in the basins of Angara River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is Irkutsk.
tsk Oblast borders with the Buryat and Tuva Republics in the south and south-west, with Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west, with the Sakha Republic in the northeast, and with Chita Oblast in the east.
The unique and world-famous Lake Baikal is located in the southeast of the region.
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Encyclopedia
Irkutsk Oblast (Irkutskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in south-eastern Siberia in the basins of Angara River, Lena, and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers. The administrative center is Irkutsk.
Geography
Irkutsk Oblast borders with the Buryat and Tuva Republics in the south and south-west, with Krasnoyarsk Krai in the west, with the Sakha Republic in the northeast, and with Chita Oblast in the east.
The unique and world-famous Lake Baikal is located in the southeast of the region. It is drained by the Angara, which flows north across the province; the outflow rate is controlled by the Irkutsk Dam (????????? ???). The two other major dams on the Irkuts Oblast's section of Angara are at Bratsk and Ust-Ilimsk, both forming large reservoirs. The Lena has its source in Irkutsk Oblast as well, and flows north-east into the neighboring Sakha (Yakutia).
Irkutsk Oblast consists mostly of the hills and broad valleys of the Central Siberian Plateau and of its eastern extension, the Patom Plateau.
Time zone
Irkutsk Oblast is located in the Irkutsk Time Zone (IRKT/IRKST). UTC offset is +0800 (IRKT)/+0900 (IRKST).
Climate
The climate varies from warm summer continental in the south to continental-subarctic in the northern part (Köppen climate classification: Dwc). For almost half the year, from mid-October until the beginning of April, the average temperature is below . Winters are very cold, with average high temperatures in Irkutsk of and average lows of in January. Summers are warm but short: the average high in July is and the average low is . However, by September, the weather cools down significantly to an average daily maximum of and an average daily minimum of . More than half of all precipitation falls in the summer months, with the wettest month being July, with 96.2 mm (3.79 in) of rain. January is the driest month, with only 11 mm (0.4 in) of precipitation. Annual precipitation averages 419.8 mm (16.53 in).
Economy
The main industries of Irkutsk Oblast are metals, energy, logging, oil and fuels, machine-building, chemicals, food industry, and hydroelectricity. The average wages in Irkutsk oblast are ten percent higher than in Russia overall.
Administrative divisions
Demographics
The population of the oblast is 2.77 million, of whom 79.6% live in urban areas, and 20.4% in rural areas. The oblast is very thinly populated, with a population density of 3.5 people per square kilometer, compared to a national average of 8.7. Irkutsk is the administrative center and largest city, with 594,500 residents. Other large cities are Angarsk (267,000 people), Bratsk (253,600 people), Usolye-Sibirskoye (104,300 people), and Ust-Ilimsk (107,200 people).
Most of the population are ethnic Russians. A minority group, the Buryats, have a special Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug inside the oblast. Russians and other Slavic/Germanic groups make up 93.38% of the population, according to the 2002 Census, while Buryats are 3.1%.
Tofalars number 837, an increase from 722 in 1989.
One small ethnic group, concentrated in three villages (Pikhtinsk, Sredne-Pikhtinsk, and Dagnik) in the Zalari District is the so-called "Bug Hollanders": descendants of Polish-speaking Lutheran farmers who had moved to Siberia from the then Russian Volhynia in 1911-1912 in search of affordable land. Although they had long lost German (or Dutch) language of their ancestors (even in the early 20th century they spoke Ukrainian and read Polish), they were still considered ethnic Germans, and during World War II were usually drafted for work in labor camps, instead of front-line military service.
Irkutsk Oblast registered natural population growth in 2008, first time after 1993. But still the future prospects for population growth in Irkutsk seems bleak. In 2007, women in Irkutsk were having an average of 1.602 children each. Fertility rate was extremely low in Urban areas, where women were having just 1.477 children each. In Rural areas however, the Fertility rate was slightly above replaceable levels. In rural areas of Irkutsk Oblast, women were having an average of 2.165 children each. (Figures are not available for 2008, although for Russia as a whole Fertility rates for 2008 were approx. 6% higher than that in 2007, and for Irkutsk 9% higher).
Vital Statistics for 2007
- Births: 34,711 (13.81 per 1000, 13.11 in Urban areas & 16.44 in Rural areas).
- Deaths: 35,157 (13.99 per 1000, 13.75 in Urban areas & 14.88 in Rural areas).
- Natural Growth Rate: -0.02% per year (-0.06% in Urban areas & +0.16% in Rural areas).
Vital Statistics for 2008
- Births : 37,587 (14.99 per 1000, highest for any province where Whites constitute more than 90% of the population in Russia).
- Deaths : 35,407 (14.12 per 1000)
Health
Despite its remoteness, Irkutsk was reported in 2004 to have the highest HIV infection rate in Russia. Tens of thousands of drug addicts, mostly ethnic Russians in their mid to late teens are infected. Experts usually say that the entire generation born during the 80s were "wasted". The number of reported AIDS cases increased by more than 10,000% during the 1999-2000 period. Although the epidemic, which started in 1999, is reported to have slowed down, Irkutsk will lose tens of thousands of its working age population from 2010 onwards. This is one of the reasons Irkutsk's male life expectancy, at 53 years, is one of the lowest in all of Russia. Preventive measures are in place to prevent the spread of the epidemic to the generation which was born after the breakup of the USSR.
See also
External links
- . Information about Irkutsk Oblast.
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