Lugansk region

The territory of the region extends from 47 ° 49 ′ to 50 ° 05 ′ north latitude and from 37 ° 52 ′ to 40 ° 13 ′ east longitude. The region stretches more than 270 km from north to south, and 170 km from west to east. Its territory is 26 683 km² (4.42% of the state) ^[3] . There is no access to the sea.

The surface of the region is a wavy plain, which rises from the Seversky Donets valley to the north and south, where the Donetsk Ridge is located. The area is rich in high quality coals . Coal reserves amount to tens of billions of tons. Two thirds are anthracites and other energetic coals, a third are coking coals. In many areas, building materials are common: limestone , sandstone , chalk , marl , various clays that are well used in construction. There is a large amount of industrial waste accumulated in mine heaps and dumps that can be used in construction. There are natural gas fields . The region has significant resources of underground fresh and mineral waters. Mineral waters are very diverse: bromine, sodium chloride, hydrogen sulfide, radon and other waters ^[6] , which have medicinal properties. In particular, there is the Darinskoe deposit of unique mineral waters, which are close in composition to the waters of “Essentuki 20” and “Chisinau” ^[7] .

The soil is fertile, mainly black earth . The region is located in the steppe zone. Forests - about 7% of the region’s territory, are located mainly near the river valleys.

Climate

The climate is temperate continental. The average temperature of the warmest month (July) is +21 ° C, and the coldest month (January) −7 ° C. Winter is relatively cold, with harsh east and south-east winds and frosts. The summer is sultry, its second half is noticeably dry. Autumn is sunny, warm, dry. Precipitation per year is 400-500 mm .

Nature

The Lower Paleolithic includes a series of locations of the Middle Podontsovye, located within the Stanichno-Lugansk and Krasnodonsky districts of the Lugansk region near the villages of Vishnevy Dol, Makarovo, Pionerskoye, Krasny Derkul ^[8] .

The region was formed by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of June 3, 1938 by dividing the Stalin region into Stalin and Voroshilovgrad (bore this name until 1958 and from 1970 to 1990). On August 21, 1938, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR approved the division of the region ^[9] . Four cities of regional subordination and 28 districts with a population of 1,837,000 people entered the Voroshilovgrad region.

On May 4, 1990, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR, the Voroshilovgrad region was renamed Lugansk ^[10] . On June 19, 1991, the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR approved this decision, introducing a corresponding amendment to the republican constitution ^[11] .

In April 2014, as a result of the aggravation of the political crisis in Ukraine , the Luhansk People's Republic was proclaimed in part of the region. Since part of the territory of the region, together with the city of Lugansk, is controlled by the LPR, the regional administration is temporarily located in Severodonetsk . A special order of local self-government has been introduced in part of the region’s territory.

General information

The number of administrative units, councils and settlements of the region:

• districts - 18;
• districts in cities - 4;
• settlements - 975, including:
  • rural - 787;
  • urban - 146, including:
    • urban-type settlements - 109;
    • 37 cities, including:
      • cities of regional significance - 14;
      • cities of regional significance - 23;
• district councils - 17;
• city ​​councils - 37;
• village councils - 84;
• village councils - 206.

Lugansk Region Regions

The region consists of 18 districts ^[12] :

Cities

Cities of Regional Importance

• Coats of arms
•  

  Alchevsk
•  

  Anthracite
•  

  Bryanka
•  

  Kirovsk
•  

  Red ray
•  

  Krasnodon
•  

  Lysychansk
•  

  Lugansk
•  

  Pervomaisk
•  

  Rovenki
•  

  Rubizhne
•  

  Sverdlovsk
•  

  Severodonetsk
•  

  Stakhanov

Cities of District

Control

The Ukrainian authorities control about 60% of the region’s territory; they operate in 3 cities of regional significance and 12 districts ^[13] :

• Severodonetsk
• Lysychansk
• Rubizhne
• Belovodsky district
• Belokurakinsky district
• Kremen district
• Markovsky district
• Melovsky District
• Novoaydarsky district
• Novopskovsky District
• Popasnyansky district
• Svatovsky district
• Stanichno-Lugansk region
• Starobelsky district
• Trinity District

In terms of population Lugansk region ranks sixth among the regions of Ukraine.

According to the 1989 census in the Lugansk region, more than 2,860,000 people. The population of Lugansk region as of January 1, 2006 is 2.409 million people (5.13% of the population of Ukraine). It belongs to the most densely populated regions of the country - the average population density of the region is about 81 people per 1 km².

As of January 1, 2015, the current population of the region is 2,220,151 people (0.86% less than January 1, 2014), including the urban population of 1,928,270 people (86.85%), and the rural population of 291,881 people (13.15%) ^[14] . The resident population is 2,215,600 people ^[15] .

As of February 1, 2018, the current population of the region amounted to 2 166 710 people (which is 1.26% less than February 1, 2017) ^[16] , the resident population is 2 162 113 people ^[4] .

The settlements of the region in terms of population of more than 10 thousand people (without territories subordinate to the City Council as of January 1, 2015) ^[14] :

Highlighted are the settlements that are not actually under the control of Ukraine ^[17] .

The dynamics of the population of the region by years (in thousands of people, as of January 1):

Starting from the formation of the region, the population was constantly growing (except for 1941-1945) until 1993. The maximum population of the region reached in 1993 - 2886.0 thousand people. Since 1993 it has been reduced on average by 28.7 thousand people a year. From 1993 to 2018 it decreased by 719.3 thousand people. In January 2018, 493 people were born, 1313 died ^{[4] [26]} . In January 2018, 383 people arrived for permanent residence, 655 people left ^{[26] [27]} . For the period from January 1, 2018 to February 1, 2018, the population decreased by 1092 people (by 0.05%), including due to negative natural growth - by 820 people (75.09%), negative migration growth - for 272 people (24.91%) ^[4] . In 2013: fertility - 9.1 per 1000 people, mortality - 15.9 per 1000 people, natural decline - −6.8 per 1000 people ^[28] . The total arrival rate is 136.1 per 10,000 people, and the outflow rate is 144.0 per 10,000 people. The migration balance is negative - −7.9 per 10,000 people ^[29] .

National composition

Population as of the 2001 census ^[5] : (peoples over 1 thousand are indicated):

• Ukrainians - 1 472 376
• Russian - 991,825
• Belarusians - 20 327
• Did not indicate nationality - 10 516
• Tatars - 8543
• Armenians - 6587
• Moldavians - 3252
• Azerbaijanis - 3123
• Jews - 2651
• Gypsies - 2284
• Poles - 2107
• Georgians - 2090
• Bulgarians - 1625
• The Germans - 1555
• Mordva - 1070
• Chuvash - 1060
• Greeks - 1049

Language Composition

According to the 2001 census, 68.8% of the region’s population named Russian as their native language . Compared to the previous census of 1989, this indicator increased by 4.9%, despite a decrease in the percentage of people who consider themselves ethnic Russians. In turn, the Ukrainian language was considered native by 30% of the region’s inhabitants, which was 4.9% less than according to the previous census. The proportion of other languages ​​indicated as native for the period between censuses did not change and amounted to 0.03% ^[30] . It should be noted that persons who consider this or that language to be their mother tongue are unevenly distributed across the region. So, after the adoption of the law on languages ​​in 2012, the Russian language received the status of a regional language on a larger, but not the entire part of the region. Exceptions were Belokurakinsky, Markovsky, Novopskovsky and Swatovsky districts, where less than 10% of the inhabitants consider Russian as their native language ^[31] . On February 28, 2018, the law was declared unconstitutional and lost force ^[32] .

Coal mining , metallurgy , heavy engineering , the chemical industry and agriculture are developed.

Transit routes pass through the territory of the region (Volgograd-Kharkov railway, Taganrog-Kharkov highway, Moscow-Rostov-on-Don (M4) highway passes at the nearest point 15 km from the region’s border, gas pipelines from Stavropol and Orenburg, oil pipelines from the Volga region and Northern Caucasus), which connect Ukraine with Russia, bring it closer to markets.

Favorable EGP, proximity to sales markets and raw materials, a developed network of transport highways, a high population density and the availability of qualified personnel greatly facilitate the economic development of the Luhansk region.

Economic Performance

According to the materials of the Committee of Statistics of Ukraine (Ukrainian) and the Main Department of Statistics in the Luhansk region (Ukrainian)

As a result of the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine, industrial production fell by 85 percent by the fall of 2014, many enterprises were closed due to the rupture of traditional economic ties and shelling ^[53] .