Southern Federal District

This article is about the political group of regions by a presidential decree. For geographical region, see Southern Russia.

This article is about the North Caucasian Federal District created in 2000 and renamed. For the district created in 2010, see North Caucasian Federal District.

The Southern Federal District (Russian: Южный федеральный округ, IPA: [ˈjuʐnɨj fʲɪdʲɪˈralʲnɨj ˈokrʊk]) is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. Its territory lies mostly on the Pontic–Caspian steppe of Southern Russia. The Southern Federal District shares borders with Ukraine, the Azov Sea, and the Black Sea in the west, and Kazakhstan and the Caspian Sea in the east.^[6]

Southern Federal District Южный федеральный округ
Federal district
Map showing location of Russia's Southern Federal District, in southwestern Russia. (Crimea, whose annexation by Russia from Ukraine is mostly unrecognized internationally, is shown in orange.)
Coordinates: 47°N 42°E
Country	Russia
Established	13 May 2000[1]
Administrative centre	Rostov-on-Don
Largest city	Krasnodar
Government
• Presidential Envoy	Vladimir Ustinov
Area [2]
• Total	447,821 km2 (172,905 sq mi)
• Rank	7th
Population  (2010 Census)
• Total	16,319,253[3]
• Rank	4th
• Urban	62.4%[3]
• Rural	37.6%[3]
GDP [4]
• Total	₽ 9.816 trillion US$ 140 billion (2022)
• Per capita	₽ 588,461 US$ 8,419 (2022)
Federal constituent entity	6 contained (12 if including disputed oblasts and republics)
Economic regions	1 contained (2 if containing disputed oblasts and republics)
HDI (2022)	0.764[5] high · 7th
Website	ufo.gov.ru

Southern Federal District

Southern Federal District in Russia

History

The Southern Federal District was originally called the North Caucasian Federal District when it was founded on 13 May 2000, but was renamed for political reasons on 21 June 2000. On 19 January 2010, the Southern Federal District was split in two, with its former southern territories forming a new North Caucasian Federal District.^[7]

On 28 July 2016, Crimean Federal District (which contains the Republic of Crimea and the Federal city of Sevastopol) was abolished and merged into Southern Federal District in order to "improve the governance".^[8] Crimean Federal District was established on 21 March 2014 after the Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.^[9] The federal district includes both the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol, both recognized as part of Ukraine by most of the international community.^[10][11] Its population was 13,854,334 (62.4% urban) according to the 2010 Census,^[3] living in an area of 420,900 square kilometers (162,500 sq mi).^[2]

Demographics

Population pyramid of the Southern Federal District at the 2021 Russian Census

Federal constituent entities

Main article: Federal subjects of Russia

An official government translation of the constitution of Russia from Russian to English uses the term "constituent entities of the Russian Federation". For example, Article 5 reads: "The Russian Federation shall consist of republics, krays, oblasts, cities of federal significance, an autonomous oblast and autonomous okrugs, which shall have equal rights as constituent entities of the Russian Federation."^[12] A translation provided by Garant-Internet instead uses the term "subjects of the Russian Federation".^[13]

Tom Fennell, a translator, told the 2008 American Translators Association conference that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation" is a better translation than "subject".^[14] This was supported by Tamara Nekrasova, Head of Translation Department at Goltsblat BLP, saying in a 2011 presentation at a translators conference that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation is more appropriate than subject of the Russian Federation (subject would be OK for a monarchy)".^[15]

1 2 3 4 5 6 A B
#	Flag	Coat of Arms	Constituent entities	Area in km2[2]	Population	Capital/administrative center	Map of Administrative Division
1			Republic of Adygea	7,800	496,934	Maykop
2			Astrakhan Oblast	49,000	960,142	Astrakhan
3			Republic of Kalmykia	74,700	267,133	Elista
4			Krasnodar Krai	75,500	5,838,273	Krasnodar
5			Rostov Oblast	101,000	4,200,729	Rostov-on-Don
6			Volgograd Oblast	112,900	2,500,781	Volgograd
Disputed territories
A			Republic of Crimea[a]	26,100	1,934,630	Simferopol
B			Sevastopol[a]	900	547,820	Sevastopol
Annexed by Russia in 2014; recognized internationally as a part of Ukraine.

Ethnic groups

Ethnic composition, according to the 2010 census: Total - 13 854 334 people.

• Russians - 11,602,452 (83.75%)
• Armenians - 442,505 (3.19%)
• Ukrainians - 212 674 (1.54%)
• Kazakhs - 205 364 (1.48%)
• Kalmyks - 172,242 (1.24%)
• Tatars - 127,455 (0.92%)
• Adyghe (Circassian) - 121 391 (0.88%)
• Azerbaijanis - 52 871 (0.38%)
• Turks - 51,367 (0.37%)
• Roma - 46,067 (0.33%)
• Belarusians - 44 723 (0.32%)
• Chechens - 34,593 (0.25%)
• Georgians - 31,018 (0.22%)
• Germans - 29 312 (0.21%)
• Koreans - 27,640 (0.20%)
• Greeks - 27,313 (0.20%)
• Dargins - 24 815 (0.18%)
• Uzbeks - 16 361 (0.12%)
• Avars - 16,061 (0.12%)
• Moldovans - 15 888 (0.11%)
• Lezgins - 15 241 (0.11%)
• Chuvash - 12 329 (0.09%)
• Kurds - 12,056 (0.09%)
• Bashkirs - 4 942 (0.06%)
• Persons who did not indicate their nationality: 240 609 people. (1.74%)
• Representatives of other nationalities: 729,572 people. (5.26%)

Life expectancy

See also: List of federal subjects of Russia by life expectancy

Life expectancy at birth in the Southern Federal District, 1990–2021^[16][17]

Presidential plenipotentiary envoys

№	Name (envoy)	Photo	Term of office			Appointed by
			Start of term	End of term	Length of service
1	Viktor Kazantsev		18 May 2000	9 March 2004	3 years, 296 days (1,391 days)	Vladimir Putin
2	Vladimir Yakovlev		9 March 2004	13 September 2004	188 days
3	Dmitry Kozak		13 September 2004	24 September 2007	3 years, 11 days (1,106 days)
4	Grigory Rapota		24 September 2007	14 May 2008	233 days
5	Vladimir Ustinov		14 May 2008	present	17 years, 95 days (6,304 days)	Dmitry Medvedev