The population of Elista is about 103 thousand people. Such data are provided by the latest census. This city is the capital of the Republic of Kalmykia, one of three in the Russian Federation, where the dominant religion is not Orthodoxy or Islam, but Buddhism. This is its main feature.
Elista residents
Official registration of the population of Elista has been conducted since 1880. Then, according to documents, 331 residents were registered in the village. Since then, it has turned into a city and has grown significantly. By 1888, the population had tripled. Then the growth of the population of Elista was observed both during the time of tsarist Russia and during the years of Soviet rule. The border of 10 thousand inhabitants was overcome in the 30s. More than 50 thousand Elistins began to live in the capital of Kalmykia since 1973. In 1998, a hundred thousandth resident was registered in the city. All this is due to the rapid development of the republican center.
The growth of the population of Elista was observed even in the crisis of the 90s, when the rest of Russia was predominantly in decline. The peak point was reached in 2001, when 107 thousand 800 inhabitants were registered in the city. After that, a recession began, which, in fact, continues to this day. At the moment, the population of Elista is 103 thousand 899 people. As of January 1, 2017, the city ranks 166th in Russia in terms of numbers. It is the only settlement in Kalmykia with over one hundred thousand inhabitants.
National composition
Information on the ethnic composition of the population of Elista is conducted, starting in 1939. Then in the city everything lived 17 thousand 100 people, more than 13 thousand of whom were Russians. In percentage terms, their share amounted to more than 75 percent. In second place were the Kalmyks - the indigenous people of Kalmykia. There were about three and a half thousand. This is approximately 20% of the total number of city residents. There were a small number of Ukrainians, Armenians and Kazakhs.
By 2010, the situation has radically changed. Firstly, the population of the city of Elista has multiplied. In 2010, about which there is official information about the national composition of the settlement, 103 thousand 749 people lived here. Then the vast majority of them were Kalmyks. This is more than 68 thousand people - 65%. Russians in the city have a little less than 26 thousand people (this is about 25%). Hundreds are calculated the number of Ukrainians, Armenians, Kazakhs and gypsies. The latter, by the way, are not on the lists of 1939. By 2010, 309 gypsies were officially living in Elista.
History of the Republican Capital
In order to better understand why the numerical and national composition of Elista has changed so much, let us turn to her story. It all started with Nicholas I, who in 1845 issued a decree on the settlement of the Kalmyk steppes. Before the very first settlement appeared on this place, Kalmyks, who have long been nomadic people, arranged their parking here. Kalmyks called this place Elista, which is translated from their language as “sandy”. The entire left slope was abundant, loose sands. So the name was fixed for the village formed in this place.
The founder of Elista is officially considered Stepan Kiykov, who was previously a serf. After the abolition of serfdom, he freed himself from this yoke and in 1862, on the advice of a local resident named Bola, built the first dugout in this place. By 1865, on the site of the future republican capital, as many as 15 yards could be counted. It is the 1865th today is considered the year the city was founded. Elista soon became popular and famous thanks to large cattle fairs, which were regularly organized in the Kalmyk steppes.
Power of advice
Initially, Elista herself belonged to the Astrakhan province. The situation changed only after the arrival of Soviet power in these places. This happened in 1918. Two years later, a resolution was issued that formalized the creation of an autonomous region of the Kalmyk people. But at first the authorities were based in the old fashioned manner in Astrakhan.
In 1925, it was decided to transfer the center of the region to the city of Elista, whose population at that time totaled about two thousand people. Since 1927, funds began to be actively allocated for the construction of cultural, administrative, domestic buildings, as well as residential buildings for the growing village every year. In 1930, a decree was issued to transform the village of Elista into a city.
During the war
During the Great Patriotic War, the city was occupied by the Germans. The Soviet underground operated here, which opposed the fascists who had come. In the vicinity of Elista, two partisan detachments were operating at once. Elista was released on December 31, 1942. On the one hand, it was almost less than other Soviet cities in occupation, on the other hand, retreating, the Germans burned almost the entire city. In December 1943, a black streak began in the life of the Kalmyk people. Together with the Caucasian peoples, the Kalmyks were forcibly deported, considering it unreliable. They went from their homes to northern Kazakhstan, Siberia and the Far East. In 1944, the Kalmyk SSR was liquidated. This situation persisted until 1957.
In 1944, Elista was renamed the city of Stepnoy. She again became part of the Astrakhan region. And in 1952, the Soviet government included it in the Stavropol Territory. The fate of Elista after the end of World War II was sad. Kalmyks were deported, autonomy was liquidated, and the city was practically not restored. Data on the population in this period were not preserved, and practically no records were kept. Residents remained only on the outskirts and in the suburbs. The main building of the House of Soviets stood destroyed more than ten years. Within the city limits, only a mill, a Stalin collective farm and a small dairy factory remained operational. Only here could people get a job at that time.
Elista Recovery
The restoration of the future republican capital began in 1957. The population of Elista only then began to increase. The impetus for this was the debunking of the Stalin personality cult. After this, the Kalmyk population was rehabilitated, a decision was made to restore statehood. By 1959, the population of the city of Elista exceeded 23 thousand people. In 1969, a railway station was opened in a festive atmosphere, which was a clear sign of the restoration of the city. A lot of jobs were opened: at the plant for the production of reinforced concrete structures, expanded clay factory, the production of silicate brick, panel construction of houses was developing.
In the 70-80s, after the active development of housing construction in the city, new educational institutions and centers of cultural and social life began to open actively. Asphalt roads appeared that connected Elista with Volgograd and Astrakhan. Elista is a city in Russia where, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they seriously took up the construction of buildings and monuments that would reflect the culture and traditions of the Kalmyk people. Nowadays, the city is one of the key Buddhist centers of Russia.
City Economy
The employment of the population of Elista is ensured by large industrial enterprises, which are in the republican center. The basis of urban industry is oil and gas companies with a high average salary. There are also companies associated with manufacturing, printing, sewing, food processing. Kalmyk companies are engaged in the production and redistribution of electricity, as well as water and gas.
One of the largest enterprises in the city is PJSC Kalmneft. This is an oil company engaged in exploration and production drilling exclusively in open fields. The Gazprom Gas Distribution Elista company, which is engaged in the production and supply of natural gas, also operates here.
The clothing and food industries are represented mainly by small enterprises that are related to small and medium-sized businesses. Well-developed pulp and paper production, printing. A well-developed construction complex in the region. Several large companies are engaged in the construction of multi-unit residential buildings.
Professional education
After the end of World War II, a large number of educational institutions opened, in which there was an opportunity to get a sought-after profession. At the moment, the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Research Institute of Agriculture, and the Institute for Integrated Research in Arid Territories are considered the largest.
Unemployment rate
Kalmykia has traditionally maintained a high level of unemployment in recent years. For example, in 2010, it was the highest in the entire Southern Federal District, amounting to more than 17%. Recently, the situation is gradually stabilizing. According to 2017 data, the official unemployment rate is 9.2%. Out of the 133,000 economically active population, Elista has no more than twelve thousand permanent jobs and salaries. At the same time, the average unemployment rate in Russia is 5.5 percent. The maximum is observed in Ingushetia (almost a third of the economically active population remains unemployed), the lowest unemployment rate in Moscow and St. Petersburg is slightly more than one and a half percent.