Irkutsk is the largest city in Siberia, located 60 kilometers from the famous Lake Baikal. What is the population of Irkutsk? How has it changed over the years? Representatives of what nations and nationalities inhabit this city today?
City of Irkutsk: population and area
Irkutsk is a large East Siberian city on the banks of the Angara River. It is an important educational center of the country with a large number of cultural and architectural monuments. Irkutsk is a historical city. Its central part may soon join the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The city covers an area of 277 square kilometers. The population of Irkutsk is about 625 thousand people (as of 2016). Thus, the population density in the city is 2250 people/sq.km.
In the immediate vicinity there are two more cities: Shelekhov and Angarsk. Together with Irkutsk, they form the so-called Irkutsk agglomeration, in which about 40% ofthe general population of the region. The agglomeration began to take shape in the second half of the 20th century. The population of Irkutsk, together with these two satellite cities, is 1.1 million people.
Administratively, the city consists of four territorial units - districts (Sverdlovsky, Oktyabrsky, Leninsky and Pravoberezhny). The Sverdlovsk district is the most populated. More than 200 thousand people live here.
How has the city's population changed?
Irkutsk was founded in the second half of the 17th century. According to the "Scribe Book" for 1686, the first inhabitants of the city were immigrants from various parts of the empire. So, among them were Muscovites, people from Ustyug, Pinega, Yeniseisk, Pskov, and even one Ukrainian. In the last year of the 17th century, the population of Irkutsk already amounted to 1000 people.
Due to its favorable geographical position, the city grew and developed very quickly. In the middle of the XIX century in Irkutsk there were about 25 thousand inhabitants, and by the end of the same century their number had almost doubled. The maximum jump in the population in Irkutsk was observed in the 30s of the twentieth century. At this time, the city "recruited" about 20 thousand people annually.
The maximum population of the city was recorded in 1991 - 641,000 people. During the crisis of the 1990s and in the first eight years of the new millennium, it was declining. But since 2009, the population of Irkutsk has been steadily growing.
Ethnic communities of Irkutsk
The city has always been distinguished by a rather motley ethnicthe structure of its population. The most numerous nationality in Irkutsk are Russians (85%). They are followed by the Buryats, who account for just over 2%. The ethnic groups, whose number in Irkutsk exceeds 2000 people, are Ukrainians, Tatars, Kyrgyz, Azerbaijanis and Armenians.
Poles arrived in the city in the 1860s. Among them were many scientists and talented cultural figures. It was with the money of the Polish community in Irkutsk that in 1881 a beautiful neo-Gothic red brick church was built. To this day, the Polish cultural center Ognivo operates in the city.
A big mark in the history and culture of the city was left by two ethnic communities - Jews and Poles. In the middle of the 19th century, a rather powerful colony of Jews was formed in Irkutsk. They compactly settled within the modern Karl Liebknecht Street. Irkutsk Jews were mainly employed in trade, industry and medicine. By the way, it was here that the famous ophthalmologist, professor of Jewish origin Z. G. Franz-Kamenetsky.
