Southern Federal District: its composition and significance

The Southern Federal District is one of the components of the Russian Federation, if I may say so. It is interesting that for a while (to be precise, from 13.05.2000 to 21.06.2000) it was called the North Caucasus Federal District. But, as you can see, it did not last long - just over a month. Then, however, on January 19, 2010, the North Caucasus Federal District was singled out from the Southern Federal District. But this is a slightly different topic.

general information

The Southern Federal District is the smallest in the whole of Russia. Its area is 447 821 sq.m. - this is only 2.61% of the area of Russia! Less is just the notorious North-Caucasian Federal District (170,439 km²). For comparison, the Siberian Federal District has an area of 5 145 000 km². Although it includes only 12 subjects. But only the Krasnoyarsk Territory occupies 2 366 797 km ².

So, the Southern Federal District includes 8 subjects. And its population is 16,367,949 people, according to the latest statistics. This is about 11.17%. The average density is low - 36.5 people per square kilometer. The center of the Federal District, by the way, is the city of Rostov-on-Don.

Composition

The fact which cities includes the SFD should be noted separately. The Southern Federal District has a small composition. As already mentioned above, there are only 8 subjects.

The smallest in the area is the hero city of Sevastopol. Only 864 km ². It has about 420,000 inhabitants. This city is good for many, but the most important thing is that it is the main naval base of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Navy.

The Republic of Adygea, located within the Krasnodar Territory, has an area of 7,800 km². The peculiarity of this region is its forest resources. They occupy more than one third of the whole republic. And still there is a lot of minerals.

It does not differ in size and Crimea - about 27 000 km ². But the Astrakhan region is more than twice as big as it is. Its area is 49 024 km ². The Astrakhan region is rich in deserts used as pastures. The Volga delta serves as a breeding ground for the beluga, stellate sturgeon and sturgeon.

Next on the area is the Republic of Kalmykia, whose capital is Elista. It is interesting that in this region the official language is not only Russian. But also Kalmyk (at the legislative level).

And the largest three regions are the Krasnodar Territory, the Rostov Region and the Volgograd Region.

Economy

The Southern Federal District annually attracts tens of thousands of tourists. Because it includes the Krasnodar Territory and the Crimea. And these are the regions rich in resorts. Sochi, Tuapse, Gelendzhik, Anapa, Sevastopol, Yalta - for the economy of these cities (and, accordingly, the entire district), the most profitable time is the end of spring, summer and early autumn. This is the specificity of the climate, it is at this time in the resort areas of the SFD there is no hindrance from visitors.

But, in addition to the tourism industry, the agro-industrial and transport complexes are still well developed here, as well as trade. True, this is not the whole district. Transport complexes of inter-regional and international importance, for example, are concentrated in the Astrakhan region and the notorious Krasnodar region.

Production percentages

But this is not all the branches that the Southern Federal District can boast of. The cities of this FD are good facilities for the development of light industry. It really does have it, and it is oriented towards supplying products to other Federal Districts of Russia. It is in the territory of this district that 1/10 of all knitted goods of our country and about 28% of footwear are produced.

But that's not all. Also, the Southern Federal District, the map of which is provided above, is the region of the country where about 21% of the total Russian steel pipes are produced, 13% are metal-cutting machines, about 19% of tractors, 7% of cars and 9% of excavators.

In addition, about 18% of cement, 10% of prefabricated reinforced concrete structures and 15% of construction bricks are produced in the SFD.

Addition

If you look at the Southern Federal District (map provided above), you can see that it still includes the Republic of Crimea and the hero city of Sevastopol. Back in March 2014, these subjects returned to the Russian Federation. But their territorial status was approved only recently - in mid-summer of the current year 2016.

After the Crimea was incorporated into the Southern Federal District, the okrug increased by 27,000 km². In the population also increased - about 2 300 000 people. By the way, it is because of the situation that occurred in November 2015, connected with the undermining of power transmission lines in Kherson, that the Southern Federal District is called an energy-deficient region. As this incident deprived the whole Crimea (a large part of the district) of electricity at all. But, as you know, if everything is bad in one place, and in the other - it's good, then the indicators are added together anyway. That is why the SFD is now deficit and is considered.

Agroindustrial complex

The center of the Southern Federal District, like all its other areas, boasts favorable natural and climatic conditions. In other FIs, they are different, and do not so have to the development of the agrarian industry. And this is the main significance of the South for our entire vast country. It is the Southern Federal District, whose composition is not very large, provides food security to Russia . It is here that practically 1/6 of the acreage of the whole country is concentrated. And they grow over a quarter (!) Of the total Russian volume of grain crops, 50% - sunflower seeds, and about 1/5 of the vegetables.

On average, in the SFD, 1/7 of the total agricultural output is produced. And this is quite a lot. This also includes 33% of sugar, 46% of vegetable oil, about 11% of dairy products and eggs, about 12.5% of meat products. In general, it can be listed for a long time, but the fact that the SFD is very important for Russia is unambiguous and undeniable.