The city of Kursk is one of the most important economic and transport centers of Russia. It is located south of the capital at 530 km. The main attraction of the city is its industrial complex, which is accompanied by a dozen scientific institutes. Today Kursk is the most important transport hub of the entire central region of the country. The name of the city was in honor of the river Kur.
History of settlement
The first communities in the city began to form at the beginning of the 5th century. A few hundred years later, a large settlement appeared on the banks of the Kur River. Local residents were mainly engaged in trade. Even then, Kursk was an important economic center of the region, which is why it so attracted thousands of new settlers. In 1095, the eponymous specific principality was founded here. During the reign of Izyaslav Monomakh, a powerful fortress appeared at the gates of the settlement. From the beginning of the 12th century, the city was the most important outpost of the entire Kievan Rus. Craftsmen and merchants from all principalities came here. With this, there was a significant increaseurban population. The population of Kursk at that time reached several thousand people.
In the middle of the 13th century the city was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars. The remnants of the principality were ruled by subjects of the Golden Horde. Gradually, the ethnic group of the Slavs began to be diluted with the Mongoloid race. At the end of the 14th century, the region passed to the Lithuanian principality. However, until the 16th century, the settlement was subjected to numerous raids by Nogais and Tatars. The date of the revival of the city is considered to be 1586.
Administrative division
Modern Kursk consists of 3 districts: Central, Seim and Zheleznodorozhny. It is noteworthy that until the spring of 1994 they were named Leninsky, Industrial and Kirovsky districts, respectively. The largest population of Kursk is concentrated in the Central District. The number is about 214 thousand people. Back in the early 2000s, similar figures barely reached 180 thousand inhabitants. One of the main reasons for the demographic growth is the expansion of the territory. Now the area covers an area of 85 square meters. km. The proportion of children and adolescents here is about 35%.
The population of the Seimsky district varies within 150 thousand inhabitants. Unlike the Central District, here the population is gradually decreasing. Compared to 2000, there are now almost 25,000 fewer residents in the district. A quarter of the property is occupied by park areas. The population of the Railway District is about 70 thousand people. This is the smallest area of the city. Only in the lastyears, its demographic number began to grow.
Population of Kursk
At the moment, the number of local residents is about 435 thousand. According to this indicator, the city ranks 41st in the country. Every year, the death rate prevails over the birth rate by about 15%. In recent years, both indicators have increased markedly. As for the average life expectancy in the region, it is at around 70 years. Today, the population of Kursk is growing every day, but it was not always so. At the beginning of the 19th century, the population of the city was 23.5 thousand people. A century later, the population of Kursk was already equal to 88 thousand. Nevertheless, in the early 1920s, there was a systematic decline in demographic indicators. Almost 50% of its inhabitants left the city. Most have moved to the country's main metropolitan areas.
In the 1960s, the population of Kursk was about 250 thousand people, and by the end of the 1990s - almost 2 times more. The decrease in indicators began to be noted with the advent of the new millennium. By 2008, the number had fallen by 12%. And only since the beginning of the 2010s, the demographic situation of the city began to improve. Today, Kursk is inhabited mainly by Russians, but there are also such nationalities as Ukrainians, Armenians, Belarusians, Gypsies, Tatars, Turks, Lithuanians, Georgians, etc..
Growth in numbers
In recent years, the population of the city of Kursk has been growing inexorably. A positive trend is observed throughout the region. Since 2009 alone, the population of Kursk has grown by 25,000 inhabitants. At the end of 2012the year the number reached 423 thousand people. Thus, the population growth per year is about 1%. Most of the positive trend belongs to migrants. The death rate continues to outstrip the birth rate. However, immigrant people support the growing momentum. More than 10 thousand new residents are registered in the city every year. At the same time, 45% less passengers leave Kursk. Thus, the migration increase every year is about 5.5 thousand people.
By January 2017, record population figures are expected. The maximum number of inhabitants in the entire history of the city was noted in 1998 - 441 thousand people.
Population of the region
At the end of the 19th century, the population of the administrative region was about 2.4 million people. At the same time, the population grew until the beginning of World War II. During the war years, the number dropped significantly (by 50%).
Over the following years, demographic and migration indicators continue to be negative. Every year the Kursk region loses up to 1% of its inhabitants. Today, its population is no more than 1.1 million people.
According to the census, most of the inhabitants represent cities - almost 67%. Russians are the dominant ethnic group. The traditional religion is Orthodoxy.
