Astrakhan metropolitan area explained

Official Name:Astrakhan metropolitan area
Native Name:Астраханская агломерация
Settlement Type:Metropolitan area
Pushpin Map:Russia Astrakhan Oblast#Russia
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:Russia
Subdivision Name1:Astrakhan Oblast
Utc Offset1:+4:00
Population:810,763[1]
Coordinates:46.3476°N 48.0301°W

The Astrakhan metropolitan area (Russian: Астраханская агломерация) is a metropolitan area in the Volga Delta area of Astrakhan Oblast, Russia centered around its capital city, Astrakhan.

It is one of the most multicultural urban areas in the country. The three largest ethnic communities are Russians (58.9%), Kazakhs (14.3%) and Tatars (7.3%).[2] Various Dagestani peoples make up a few more percent. Smaller but significant communities include Armenians, Ukrainians, Chechens, Jews and the Roma.

Borders

While the term agglomeration, synonymous to metro area, is commonly used by various government agencies and media outlets in Russia, it does not have a legal definition. That makes precise population and area figures as well as definite borders unavailable for most such areas in the country. This is the case for Astrakhan, too. A map by the Ministry of Transport suggests that the metropolitan region covers the entirety of Astrakhan City and Privolzhsky District as well as parts of Kamyzyaksky, Ikryaninsky, Krasnoyarsky, Narimanovsky, and Volodarsky districts.[3] It does not specify which municipalities of the latter districts belong to the agglomeration and only shows a rough approximation of where it ends, so all of these districts will be counted in their entirety when it comes to population figures on this page.

The metropolitan area includes ten localities with a population of over 5,000 people each, as well as dozens of smaller villages scattered between them.

Locality Type Population
city, oblast seat 529,793
city, district seat 15,749
village, district seat 12,214
city, district seat 10,764
settlement, district seat 10,136
village, district seat 10,036
settlement 6,397
village 6,343
village, district seat 5,451
village 5,332

Notes and References

  1. This figure includes the entire population of Astrakhan City and the six adjacent districts fully or partly included in the agglomeration by the Ministry of Transport.
  2. These figures account for the combined populated of Astrakhan City and the six adjacent districts. Ethnic composition data taken from Web site: Astrakhan Oblast (2002). Tim Bespyatov. Population statistics of Eastern Europe & former USSR. 2020-08-05.
  3. Web site: Astrakhan City Agglomeration. Russian Ministry of Transport Priority Project: Safe High-Quality Roads. https://web.archive.org/web/20180726041007/http://bkd.rosdornii.ru/agglomeration/astrakhanskaya/. 2020-08-05. 2018-07-26.