Passport of the Voronezh Region

Year of formation	1934
Territory	52,2 thousand km²
Population (as of  01.01.2020), thousand people	2285,3
Density of population	43,9 people per 1 km²
Administrative center	City District of Voronezh
Distance to Moscow	587 km

 

Geographical position and landscape

The Voronezh Region is part of the Central Federal District (further - CFD) and the Central Black-Soil macro-region. It borders the Belgorod, Kursk, Lipetsk, Tambov, Saratov, Volgograd, Rostov regions, and Ukraine.

The Voronezh Region is located in the forest-steppe and steppe zones.

The soils are represented by leached and typical black soils in the North, and common black soils in the South. The natural landscape of the Region is characterized by extensive forests (mainly oak and pine forests), many of which bare the status of forest reserves, with areas of indigenous steppes.

Natural resources

Land resources of the Region are represented by 4,1 million hectares of farmland, including 3 million hectares of high-yield black soil plough land.

Mineral resources base is mainly represented by mining and chemical raw materials (refractory clays, construction and glass sands, chalk, marl, limestone, brick clay, granite). There are several mineral water sources. The Region possesses a prospective copper-nickel ores province (third in thickness in Russia).

Forest resources are represented by oak, pine, birch, alder wood, and perform mainly protective forest belt role. Forest land constitutes about 10% of the territory.

Recreational resources of the Region are extremely diverse and promising for recreation and tourism. There are the Voronezh and the Novohopersk Biosphere Reserves in the Region.

Administrative and territorial division

The Region consists of 3 City Districts, 31 municipal districts, with 28 urban settlements and 416 rural settlements. There are 15 towns, 4 urban-type communities,
13 workers' settlements and 1699 rural settlements.

The administrative center is the City District of Voronezh with the population (as of 01.01.2023) of 1052 thousand people.

Voronezh first appeared in 1586 as a fortress. In XVII century it became a largest center of trade. Since 1711 it was the center of the Azov province, and since 1725 – of the Voronezh province. Today Voronezh is one of the agro-industrial centers of Russia.

The other largest City Districts are Borisoglebsk and Novovoronezh with the population of, respectively, 68,2 and 30,5 thousand people.

The proportion of urban population is 68%; of rural population – 32%. Density of population is 43,9 people per 1 km².

The Region’s center is the City District of Voronezh, located on the river Voronezh.

Transport infrastructure

The Voronezh Region is situated in the transport communications hub that connects it with the industrial areas of Russia and CIS countries. Airport “Voronezh” has been a holder of the international status since 1995.

A number of major highways, such as Moscow–Rostov, Moscow–Astrakhan, Kursk–Saratov go through Voronezh.

The South-East railroad, one of the most high-capacity transport arteries in the Russian railway network, connects the center of the European part of the country with North Caucasus, Volga River basin, and the Eastern part of the country.

The establishment of municipal road funds, in addition to the already existing Federal and Regional road funds, not only increased the financing of the industry, but also ensured the stability and predictability of financial flows, made it possible to develop long-term goal-oriented programs secured with resources, including regional and municipal ones. The said funds also make it possible to maintain and develop road network. Owing to a system of long-term contracts for the implementation of highways maintenance works, it became possible to increase the share of regional or inter-municipal public roads that meet the Voronezh Region regulatory requirements, up to 69.5%.

Labour resources

The average number of labor resources for 2021 amounted to 1399,1 thousand people, or 60.9% of the total population of the Region. The main share of the labor force (87.9%) is the working-age population, the share of pensioners and adolescents employed in the regional economy accounts for 10.7%, 1.3% are foreign migrant workers.

The average annual number of people employed in the economy in 2021* was 1112,9 thousand people, with 17.4% employed in industry, 11.4% in agriculture, 7.0% in education, 6.6% in healthcare and social service institutions.

Economic development

According to the volume of its economy, the Voronezh Region has traditionally been among the top three of the Central Federal District regions (after Moscow and the Moscow Region), and is among 25 most economically developed regions of the country. The volume of the GRP is 1 trillion rubles; over the past 10 years the volume of the GRP increased twofold and went up from 564 billion rubles (year 2012) to 1154,7 billion rubles (year 2021).

The leading types of economic activity securing over 60% of the produced GRP are industrial production, agriculture, construction, transport and communication, trade.

Industrial production

In the industry, the Region has been able to maintain continuous positive dynamics over the past 12 years, moreover, outstripping the Russian average.

The leading industrial productions in the Region are: electric power generation, foodstuffs, chemicals, rubber and plastic goods, means of transport and equipment, machinery and equipment, electrical equipment, electronic and optical equipment, metallurgical production and fabricated metal products, other non-metallic mineral products.

The Regional enterprises produce airbuses “IL-96” (the only production of wide-body long-range passenger aircrafts in the country), military transport aircrafts “IL-112B”; space-rocket engines; electrical equipment and communication facilities; steel bridge structures; synthetic rubber; mineral fertilizers; car tires; ore-dressing equipment; equipment for oil and gas extraction, transportation and processing; forge-and-pressing machines; ceramic facing tile and ceramic-granite; walling; cement, metal and concrete products and constructions; wide range of foodstuffs, etc.

As of the end of 2022, the industrial production of the Region showed a slight drop – 2% to the level of 2021. The major factor to this drop was a decrease of production in process manufacturing (2.4%).

Agriculture

According to natural, climatic and economic conditions the Voronezh Region is an area of intensive and developed agricultural production. 3/4 of the Region's soils are black soils. Farmland accounts for 77% of all the land in the Region, plough land – for 58%.

Leading agricultural sectors are livestock farming (cattle breeding, pig breeding, sheep breeding, poultry farming) and plant cultivation (wheat, rye, barley, corn, sugar beet, sunflower).

Agriculture of the Region is characterized by a stable dynamic development. According to its contribution to the all-Russian volume of agricultural production, the Voronezh Region ranks 3d in the country, and maintains a leading position among the subjects of the Central Federal District. 

The achievement of high results was facilitated by the dynamic development of agricultural production in 2022 (compared to 2021, the volume of production increased by 11.9%). The volume of milk production in the Region, starting from 2020, exceeds the one million mark. The production of meat from 2017 (422 thousand ton) increased by 1,6 times, and reached 676 thousand ton in 2022, which placed the Region 2d in the Russian Federation.

In the crop production industry, according to the volume of produced goods the Voronezh Region traditionally held the 1st place in the Central Federal District, and is among the top three of the Russian Federation subjects.  Records for the gross harvest of grain crops have been updated twice (in 2020 – 6,2 million ton, in 2022 – 6,9 million ton). In 2019, a record was set for the gross harvest of sugar beet – 6,8 million ton.

The processing industry developed dynamically: 1st place in Russia for the production of vegetable oil (1,03 million ton), 2d place for the production of confectionery products (320 thousand ton), 3rd place for the production of butter (20,1 thousand ton) and sugar (777,5 thousand ton).

Investment

The Regional Government pursues an active investment policy geared to the solution of strategic objectives of economic modernization, renovation and diversification of the production sphere.

In the framework of the Voronezh Region Investment Strategy, the Government of the Region is implementing a set of measures intended for the creation of conditions for the mobilization of domestic, and increasing the inflow of external investment resources into the Region's economy; expansion of the sources of investment in business projects; development of the Regional infrastructure using public-private partnership mechanisms.

In order to create a comfortable business environment, to optimize regulatory procedures in the Voronezh Region, the Standard of the Executive Bodies' Activity was introduced to ensure a favorable investment climate.

Currently, there are 4 state Industrial Parks in the Region – “Maslovsky”, “Liskinsky”, “Bobrovsky”, “Voronezh”, and two private industrial parks – “Perspectiva” and “Voronezh”.

In 2018, the Voronezh Region completed the establishment of a social-and-economic priority development zone “Pavlovsk” and a Special Economic Zone of industrial-production type “Center”.

The implementation of a set of measures creating comfortable conditions for doing business and stimulating investment activity ensured the leading positions of the Voronezh Region in the national ratings for investment development of the subjects of the Russian Federation.

As of the end of 2022, the volume of investments in fixed assets amounted to 344 billion rubles, or 104.9% compared to the level of 2021. In terms of annual investment, the Region consistently ranks 3rd in the Central Federal District after Moscow and the Moscow Region.

Construction

The building complex of the Voronezh Region is one of the largest and most significant sectors of the Region's economy that provides construction of industrial, civil and residential facilities of any complexity with the use of modern materials and technologies.

In terms of the volume of the total area of housing commissioned, the Voronezh Region is one of the Russian Federation subjects that provide the largest annual growth in housing, and ranks 3d in the Central Federal District, second only to Moscow and the Moscow Region, and is among Top-15 regions-leaders of the Russian Federation. As of the end of 2022, 1,9 million square meters of housing were commissioned.

In average, 33,6 square meters of housing are available per 1 resident of the Voronezh Region, which corresponds to the 10th place in the rating of the subjects of the country.

Consumer market

Trade is one of the fastest developing sectors of the Regional economy.

In terms of the amount of retail trade, the Voronezh Region ranks 3d in the Central Federal District (after Moscow and the Moscow Region), and, beginning from 2012, also 3d per capita.

In the structure of the economy, trade turnover accounts for 18%, the number of people employed in this sphere is about 22% of the economically engaged population of the Region. Over 20 thousand economic entities operate on the territory of the Region in all segments of the consumer market, as well as over 150 shopping centers.

Communication and information technologies

Local, long distance and international phone landline communications, mobile and postal services, telematic services and broadcasting provided by the work of telecom operators.

Mobile services market shows the highest growth rate. All the largest mobile operators of the country are represented in the Region.

Since 2010, the Voronezh Region Autonomous Institution “The Multifunctional Center for the Provision of State and Municipal Services” (MFC) has been operating in the Voronezh Region. The infrastructure for serving applicants today is available in each municipal district and city district of the Region. Every year shows a steady growth of the number of citizens applying for services in the MFC, as well as the expansion of the list of state, municipal and additional services provided on the basis of the MFC.

Banking system

As of the beginning of 2023, there are 47 credit institutions in the Voronezh Region, including 8 branches of banks of other regions (including the Tsentralno-Chernozyomny Bank of Sberbank of Russia).

Altogether, with the additional offices, operating cash desks outside the cash centers, there are 512 units of credit institutions in the Voronezh Region.

Education

The Voronezh Region holds the 6th place in Russia according to the number of University students (369 per 10 thousand people), and is in the top 20 regions according to the number of Schools of Higher Learning. Thus, in the Central Federal District, the Region ranks 3d according to the number of University students and the number of professional education institutions. The system of Higher and vocational education includes 15 Universities with 85 thousand students (all forms of education); 54 vocational schools with the student body of over 49 thousand. The Universities offer more than 200 majors.

Healthcare

The improvement of the three-level healthcare system has been continued: new units created, new technologies for medical care introduced, new healthcare facilities built and put into operation.

The material and technical base of healthcare has continued to strengthen: new hospitals, polyclinics, feldsher-obstetric stations and outpatient clinics are built.

Culture

The Voronezh Region is a birthplace of lyrical folk poets A. Koltsov and I. Nikitin; the world-famous writers I. Bunin, A. Platonov and G. Troyepolsky; columnist V. Peskov; artist I. Kramskoy.

There are 8 state and municipal theaters, and 4 concert halls in the Region.

With the support of the Government of the Voronezh Region, large-scale cultural projects are implemented: the events of the Moscow Easter Festival, an international-scale image project - International Platonov Arts Festival, festival of ballet dancers - “Voronezh Stars of World Ballet”, summer theater festival “Ramenie-Opera”, festivals of academic music – “Voronezh Camerata”, “Voronezh Names”, Festival of Children's Theater Groups MARSHAK, “Mandelstamfest”, Academic artistic “open airs” with the participation of members of the Russian Academy of Arts and artists of the CFD regions.

Sights

Among places of interest are such architectural monuments of XVII - XIX centuries as historical and cultural center “the Oldenburg Palace complex”, Museum “Arsenal”; the Fine Arts Museum named after I. Kramskoy; the State Archaeological Museum “Kostenki” (the Khokholsky District), and the architectural and archaeological museum “Divnogorie” (the Liski District); the “museum-on-the-ship” “Goto Predestinatio”, a life-size copy of the first Russian battleship built in 1700 without foreign shipbuilders.

as of July 2023