A special type – “northerners”. Residents of the Arctic provide one-tenth of the gross domestic product of Russia

There are 2 million 400 thousand residents of the Arctic zone in the Russian Federation. At the same time, their activity gives almost one tenth of the country’s gross domestic product, as the media office of the All-Russian census calculated, being based on Rosstat data (Federal State Statistics Service).

“Severe conditions formed a special type of people – “northerners”. They are initiative, efficient and used to rely on themselves in everything. The Arctic zone with population only 1.5% of the whole Russia gives almost one tenth of the country’s gross domestic product”, as it is said in the media office.

The Polar Explorer’s Day is celebrated on the 21st of May. It is celebrated not only by employees of stations in the North or South Poles, but also by geologists, oceanographers, gas workers, oil workers and in general all residents of the Arctic zone of Russia. It includes Murmansk Oblast, Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Chukotka and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as some areas of the Republics of Komi, Karelia, Sakha (Yakutia), Krasnoyarsk Krai and Arkhangelsk Oblast.

According to Rosstat, at the beginning of 2019 about 2 million 400 thousand people lived in the Arctic zone of Russia, as RIA Novosti reports. The vast majority of the population is urban, a share - 89%. In the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation there are also areas with the high proportion of rural population - these are places where indigenous peoples of the Far North live compactly. The population of the Arctic zone is relatively young, because mostly people of working age live and work there. In the Russian Arctic there are hundreds of deposits of coal, oil, gas, diamonds and various ores.

According to the Director of the Institute of Regional Problems Dmitry Zhuravlev, it is difficult to overestimate significance of the Arctic, today it is the last undeveloped region on the planet.

“Initiatives of different countries on development of riches of the Arctic resemble the space race - competition in space exploration between the USSR and the USA. The global crisis has somewhat obscured the relevance of this topic, but it is necessary to invest in long-term projects on development of riches of the Russian Arctic right now, otherwise it will be too late”, Zhuravlev told.