Penza Oblast

Subject of the Russian Federation Penza Oblast Пензенская область flag coat of arms Federal district Volga surface 43,352  km² population 1,386,186 inhabitants (as of October 14, 2010) Population density 32 inhabitants / km² Administrative center Penza Official language Russian Ethnic composition Russians (86.4%) Tartars (6.0%) Mordvins (4.9%) (as of 2002) governor Ivan Beloserzew (acting) Founded February 4, 1939 Time zone UTC + 3 Telephone prefixes (+7) 841xx Postcodes 440000-442999 License Plate 58 OKATO 56 ISO 3166-2 RU-PNZ Website www.penza.ru

Coordinates: 53 ° 10 '  N , 44 ° 32'  E

The Penza Oblast ( Russian Пензенская область / Pensenskaja oblast ) is an oblast in Russia .

geography

It is located in the Volga Federal District in the southern part of the Eastern European Plain on the Volga Plateau . In the north it borders on the Republic of Mordovia , in the east on the Ulyanovsk Oblast , in the south on the Saratov Oblast and in the west on the Tambov Oblast .

The surface of the oblast is mainly hilly and the climate is temperate continental. The average monthly temperatures fluctuate between −10.0 ° C in February and +19.2 ° C in July. The annual average temperature is 4.7 ° C. From May to August, daytime temperatures usually fluctuate between 21 ° C and 26 ° C.

The longest rivers are the Sura , the Mokscha , the Chopjor and the Pensa , a 78 km long tributary of the Sura, which gave the oblast its name.

history

Russian colonization of the area began in the 17th century. At that time, for example, the border fortress Penza (today the city of Penza) was built as a defensive settlement against the Tatars and other peoples hostile to the Tsarist Empire. In 1718 the area became part of the Kazan Governorate . On September 15, 1780, the region became an independent administrative unit under the name Penza Gouvernement . From March 5, 1797 to September 9, 1801, the area belonged to the Saratov Governorate . Until 1928, the area was again called Penza Governorate. With the reorganization of the administrative units within the Soviet Union, there was the Middle Volga Oblast (May 14, 1928 to October 20, 1929), then its successor Region (Krai) Middle Volga (until January 27, 1935). On that day the krai was given the new name Kuibyshevsky krai . This became on December 6, 1936 the Kuibyshev Oblast (today Samara). From 1937 to 1939 the territory of what is now Penza Oblast belonged to Tambov Oblast . On February 7, 1939, the Penza Oblast was created by splitting off from Tambov in its current size.

population

In the last Russian censuses in 2002 and 2010, there were a population of 1,452,941 and 1,386,186 residents, respectively. The number of inhabitants thus fell by 66,755 people (−4.59%) in these eight years. In 2010, 930,102 people lived in cities. This corresponds to 67.10% of the population (in Russia 73%). By January 1, 2014, the population decreased further to 1,360,587 people. The distribution of the different ethnic groups was as follows:

Country seat of the poet Mikhail Jurjewitsch Lermontow in Tarchani

Population of the oblast by ethnic group

nationality	VZ 1989	percent	VZ 2002	percent	VZ 2010	percent
Russians	1,296,143	86.15	1254680	86.35	1,165,668	84.09
Tatars	81,307	5.40	86,805	5.97	86,431	6.24
Mordwinen	86,370	5.74	70,739	4.87	54,703	3.95
Ukrainians	14,942	0.99	12,421	0.85	8,595	0.62
Tschuwaschen	7,075	0.47	6,738	0.46	5,614	0.40
Armenians	1,285	0.09	3,670	0.25	4,103	0.30
Zigane	2,555	0.17	2,535	0.17	3,390	0.24
Uzbeks	676	0.04	840	0.06	1.910	0.14
Azerbaijanis	1,624	0.11	1,679	0.12	1,760	0.13
Belarusians	2,954	0.20	2,579	0.18	1,682	0.12
German	780	0.05	1,279	0.09	849	0.06
Jews	1,743	0.12	898	0.06	593	0.04
Residents	1,504,569	100.00	1,452,941	100.00	1,386,186	100.00

Note: the proportions refer to the total number of inhabitants. Including the group of people who did not provide any information about their ethnicity (2002 1,705 and 2010 43,283 people)

The area's population is around 85% Russian. The Tartars and Mordvins are the only significant ethnic minorities in Penza Oblast. The number of Mordvins - as well as the number of Ukrainians, Belarusians and Jews - is falling sharply, however. On the other hand, numerous people have immigrated from the Transcaucasus and Central Asia since the end of the Soviet Union. In addition to the nationalities listed above, there are also many Tajiks (1989: 283; 2010: 1,028 people), Turkmens (1989: 148; 2010: 455) and Yazidis (1989: none; 2010: 237).

economy

The most important branches of industry include mechanical engineering, wood processing and the textile industry.

Administrative divisions and cities

→ Main article : Administrative division of Penza Oblast

The Penza Oblast is divided into 27 Rajons and 3 urban districts. The city districts are formed by the largest city and administrative center Penza by far , the closed city (SATO) Saretschny and the city of Kuznetsk . There are a total of eleven cities and 16 urban-type settlements in the oblast .

Biggest cities

Surname	Russian	Residents (October 14, 2010)
Penza	Пенза	517.311
Kuznetsk	Кузнецк	88,839
Zarechny	Заречный	63,601
Kamenka	Каменка	39,577
Serdobsk	Сердобск	35,393
Nizhny Lomov	Нижний Ломов	22,678
Nikolsk	Nikolaosk	22,471

See also : List of cities in Penza Oblast

Web links

Commons : Penza Oblast  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Penza Oblast website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Administrativno-territorialʹnoe delenie po subʺektam Rossijskoj Federacii na 1 janvarja 2010 goda (administrative-territorial division according to subjects of the Russian Federation as of January 1, 2010). ( Download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)
2. ↑ ^{a b} Itogi Vserossijskoj perepisi naselenija 2010 goda. Tom 1. Čislennostʹ i razmeščenie naselenija (Results of the All-Russian Census 2010. Volume 1. Number and distribution of the population). Tables 5 , pp. 12-209; 11 , pp. 312–979 (download from the website of the Federal Service for State Statistics of the Russian Federation)