One of the young cities of Russia - Novy Urengoy - today shows steady growth and economic prosperity. The gas capital of the country is distinguished by the specific characteristics of its population, this is due to the history, climate and characteristics of activities in the region.
Geography and climate
Novy Urengoy is located in the Yamal-Nenets district of the Tyumen region. The area of the city is 221 square meters. km The gas capital is 2350 km from Moscow and 450 km from Salekhard. The city is located just 60 km from the Arctic Circle and lies on the left bank of the Pur River, at the place of its confluence with the Evo-Yahu River. The settlement is spread out on a flat coast. The rivers Tamchara-Yah and Sede-Yah flow through its territory, which divide the city into northern and southern parts. The lands around Urengoy are very swampy, and the expansion of the city’s borders is difficult, but it continues to gradually conquer pieces of land from nature.
The population of Novy Urengoy lives in places with a harsh climate. Two climatic zones converge here: temperate and subarctic. The average annual temperature in the city is minus 4.7 degrees. The long, 9-month, winter is very severe. The thermometer can drop to minus 45. In winter, there are often storms and blizzards. The average temperature in winter is around minus 20 degrees. Summer lasts only 35 days, while the air warms up to an average of +15 degrees. The city is located in the permafrost zone, in summer the soil thaws only to a depth of 1.5-2 meters. The shortest daylight hours in Novy Urengoy last a little over an hour.
Story
Novy Urengoy, whose population lives in such difficult climatic conditions, appeared on the map in 1973. But before that, there was the village of Urengoy, not far from which in 1966 a gas field was discovered. The village has existed since 1949, the builders of the railway from Salekhard to Igarka lived in it. However, with the death of Stalin, this project stalled, and for some time the houses stood uninhabited. Then geologists settled in dilapidated barracks. And only with the beginning of field development the population begins to increase.
The first inhabitants of the new city were its builders, who set up a camp 100 km from the village of Urengoy and called it "Novy Urengoy." First, the workers carried out gas heating, and then began to build the first multi-storey buildings. Then came a power station, a bakery, an airport was built in a year, and two years later a railway line reached Surgut. In 1978, commercial gas production began. Large volumes of extraction of “blue fuel” ensured the rapid development of Novy Urengoy.
Already in 1980, the settlement received the official status of the city. In 1981, the city was awarded the title of the All-Union Komsomol construction site, many young people from all over the country came here. In 1983, the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod gas pipeline was launched, which opened the way for Russian gas to Western Europe. In the 90s, private capital began to be invested in the region, and this had a positive effect on the development of the city. In 2004, the city “swallowed up” the villages of Korotchaevo and Limbyakha. Since that time, Novy Urengoy has become the longest city in the world - its length is more than 80 km.
Administrative division
The official division of the city was carried out according to a simple geographical principle, the city includes such areas as the Northern Residential, Northern Industrial Zone, Southern Residential, Western Industrial Zone and Eastern Industrial Zone. The population of Novy Urengoy conditionally divides the city into two parts: “south” and “north”. In the districts, such constituent components as Student, Optimists, Creators, Star, Olympic, Rainbow, Hope, Friendship, Yagelny microdistricts are distinguished. In total, there are 32 micro-districts in the city, as well as 5 villages.
Urban infrastructure
The city of Novy Urengoy was built according to modern standards, there are wide avenues, good roads. The population of Novy Urengoy is fully provided with the necessary service enterprises and cultural institutions. There are 7 branches of higher education institutions, 23 secondary educational institutions. The cultural needs of the population are met by an art museum, several cinemas. Transport connection is well developed here, it is a city in which there are almost no traffic jams. The airport, railway and river transport provide a good connection of the region with other parts of the country. The population of Novy Urengoy is fully provided with medical services, 11 medical institutions with a good level of qualification of doctors work in the city. In high esteem among the city's residents, sports and physical education, 17 sports-oriented institutions allow 25 thousand people to regularly engage in various types of physical activity.
Population dynamics
Systematic monitoring of the number of inhabitants in the city has been conducted since 1979. In general, Novy Urengoy, whose population is almost always growing, shows good development. Over the entire observation period, three points of decline in numbers were noted. This is the time from 1996 to 2000, when a negative dynamics of the population was recorded throughout the country. The second notable recession occurred in 2010, when the number of city residents decreased by 14 thousand people. The third period with negative dynamics is observed today, it began in 2014, and so far the authorities have failed to change the situation. At the beginning of 2016, the number of residents of Novy Urengoy was 111,163 people. Due to the large extent of the urban territory, the population density indicator here is quite low - 470 people per 1 sq. Km. km
Ethnic composition and language
Novy Urengoy is a multinational city. Due to the fact that the settlement was formed due to visitors from different parts of the country, a slightly different ethnic situation developed here than in many subjects of Russia. So, the population of Novy Urengoy, who considers himself Russian, is 64%. Almost 11% named themselves Ukrainians during the census. 5% of the total population are Tatars, 2.6% are Nogais, 2% are Kumyks and Azerbaijanis, 1.7% are Bashkirs. The remaining ethnic groups account for less than 1% each. Despite such ethnic diversity, the main, if not the only, language of communication in the region is Russian.
Age and sex characteristics of the population
In Russia, on average, the number of men is inferior to the number of women everywhere. Novy Urengoy, whose population has specific characteristics, fits into this trend, but the average advantage is approximately 1.02 (49.3% of men and 50.7% of women), while the proportion of women and men in the country is 1.2 -1.4.
By age characteristics, the region also differs from the all-Russian situation. This is a city with a large number of minors, 23% of the population are children under 15 years old. 19% of the population are residents over working age. Thus, the coefficient of demographic load on each able-bodied resident of the city is 1.4, which is lower than in many regions of the country.
Demographics of Novy Urengoy
Fertility and mortality are the most important demographic indicators of the socio-economic development of the region. In Novy Urengoy, the birth rate is 15.4 for every thousand people. And mortality today is held at 3.8 per thousand people. The average age of a resident of the city is 36 years. Thus, the population of the city of Novy Urengoy shows a natural increase, and this allows us to attribute it to a growing, rejuvenating type of settlement, while for the most part mortality overtakes the birth rate in the country. However, the region is not prosperous in terms of life expectancy, on average, residents of Novy Urengoy live less than other Russians for 2-3 years.
Social and economic development of Novy Urengoy
The region has a high level of development; this is facilitated by stable work to extract gas from the bowels of the Earth. The main occupations of the population of Novy Urengoy are work in the gas production and gas transportation sectors. The region accounts for about 75% of all gas produced in the country. About a thousand different enterprises operate in the fuel and energy industry of Novy Urengoy.
Also, the city’s economy is steadily developing due to the services sector. Novy Urengoy has its own enterprises for the production of dairy, confectionery and meat products. Service companies also make up a well-growing segment of the local market. The greatest profit and high employment of the population gives retail. Novy Urengoy is well provided with socially significant enterprises and has fairly high rates of average wages. All this makes the city an attractive place to live and have children.
Employment
The unemployment situation is being monitored by the Novy Urengoy Employment Center. For many years now, the organization has recorded an extremely low unemployment rate, it is 0.5-0.6% with an average of 4.5% in the country. The Employment Center (Novy Urengoy) notes that the need for workers in the city is never fully satisfied, there are always at least 15 thousand vacancies. It is difficult to find work for people with rare specialties, such as winemakers, as well as some difficulties in finding work in the specialty are experienced by women over 35 with one or two higher educations.