About the Region
The Leningrad Region was formed on August 1, 1927.
The Leningrad Region is a constituent entity of the Russian Federation. The status of the Leningrad Region is determined by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the Charter of the Leningrad Region.
State authorities of the Leningrad Region are located on the territory of the city of Gatchina in the Leningrad Region and the city of St. Petersburg.
The Leningrad Region borders with five constituent entities of the Russian Federation: St. Petersburg (cities with federal status), the Republic of Karelia, the Vologda Region, the Novgorod Region, the Pskov Region, and with two states: the Republic of Finland and the Republic of Estonia.
The territory of the Leningrad Region is 94146.89 sq. km.
The population is more than 2 million people. Two-thirds of the population is urban, one third lives in rural areas. Representatives of 145 nationalities live on the territory of the Leningrad Region. The majority are Russians. The indigenous peoples living on the territory of the Leningrad region include the peoples of the Finno-Ugric language group: Veps, Vod and Izhora.
Nature. In the Leningrad Region, near the sources of the Oyat River, there is the highest point above sea level - the Vepsovskaya Hill (291 m).
On the territory of the region there are about 1800 lakes, the largest of them and the first largest in Europe is the Ladoga lake, with an area of more than 18 thousand sq. km. The total length of all rivers in the Leningrad Region is about 50 thousand km. The largest of them are: Luga (353 km), Oyat (266 km), Syas (260 km), Pasha (242 km), Volkhov (224 km), Svir (224 km), Oredezh (192 km), Vuoksa (156 km), Neva (74 km).
More than 70 percent of the region`s territory is occupied by forest and lands on which forests are located, including specially protected natural areas: of federal significance - the state natural reserve Nizhne-Svirsky, the state nature reserve Mshinskoe swamp, the state natural reserve Vostok Gulf of Finland; of regional significance - natural parks Vepsky forest and Toksovsky; local significance - Protected natural landscapes of Lake Veroyarvi, Polyana Bianki, Haapala, Ilola, as well as 27 state nature reserves and 19 natural monuments.
Also on the territory of the Leningrad region there are wetlands of international importance. Their borders include the state nature reserves and reserves Birch Islands, Kurgalsky, Lebyazhy, North of Mshinsky swamp, Mshinskoye swamp and Nizhne-Svirsky.
Four state nature reserves of the Leningrad Region («Beryozovye Ostrov», «Vyborgsky», «Kurgalsky» and «Lebyazhy») have been nominated for the network of protected areas of the Baltic Sea under the Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area, and the state nature reserve of regional significance Lindulovskaya Grove» and part of the territory of the nature monument «Koltush Heights» are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site with the name «Historic Center of St. Petersburg and related groups of monuments.»
The mineral resource base of the Leningrad region is represented by deposits of sand and sand and gravel materials, building and facing stone, clay, peat, as well as groundwater. More than 100 mineral deposits are currently being exploited in the region.
