Northwestern Federal District, Russia

Northwestern Federal District - Overview

Northwestern Federal District is a federal district of the Russian Federation located in the north and north-west of its European part. It was formed by the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of May 13, 2000.

The administrative center and the largest city of the district is St. Petersburg - a city of federal significance.

The population of Northwestern Federal District is about 13,899,000 (2016), the area - 1,686,972 sq. km.

North West district map, Russia

Northwestern Federal District - Features

Most of the territory of Northwestern Federal District is located in the European north. The climate is temperate and subarctic. The air has a high humidity. One of the characteristic features of this federal district is a large number of marshes, lakes and rivers.

Northwestern Federal District is washed by the seas of the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans making the climate relatively warm in winter and cool in summer in the northwest of the district. In the north winters are severe, summers are relatively short and warm.

The territory of the district is mostly flat, located in the zone of mixed forests, taiga, forest-tundra, and tundra. About 50% of the forest resources of the European part of Russia are concentrated here.

The largest rivers are the Northern Dvina and Pechora. Also in Northwestern Federal District, mainly in the western part, there are numerous lakes, including the largest lakes in Europe - Ladoga and Onega. The federal district has almost half the water resources of the European part of Russia.

The district has access to the Baltic, White, Barents, Kara seas and borders with Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus.

About 72% of Russian apatite reserves, 77% - titanium, 45% - bauxite, 19% - mineral waters, 18% - diamonds and nickel are concentrated here. Extraction of oil and coal plays an important place in the economy of the district.

The district share in industrial production of Russia is about 12%, in the production of agricultural products - 6.2%. The electric power industry of the district includes two nuclear power plants - the Leningrad NPP and Kola NPP.

This federal district has the largest ports of Russia - the seaport of St. Petersburg, the Murmansk Sea Commercial Port, the Kaliningrad Port and the Arkhangelsk Port.