Moscow Oblast

Moscow Oblast (Russian: Моско́вская о́бласть, Moskovskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia. It is located in western Russia, and it completely surrounds Moscow. The oblast has no capital, and oblast officials reside in Moscow or in other cities within the oblast.^[1] As of 2015, the oblast has a population of 7,231,068 people.^[2]

Map of the Moscow Oblast.

The Joseph-Volokolamsk Monastery in Volokolamsk.

Flag

Coat of arms

Balashikha is the biggest city in the oblast, with a population of 215,494 people in 2010.

Geography

The oblast is located in the central part of the East European Plain. The largest rivers are Oka, Moskva and Klyazma.

History

In 1708 Moscow governorate became one of the 8 first ones in Russia.

In 1929 was established Central Industrial Oblast, in little time renamed in Moscow Oblast.

The Battle of Moscow was fought in the oblast.

Demographics

According to the 2010 census, the ethnic composition is:^[3]

Russian : 87.42% Ukrainian : 1.68% Armenian : 0.89% Tatar : 0.79% Belarusian : 0.45% Moldovan : 0.28% Azerbaijani : 0.27%

Mordvin : 0.26% Chuvash : 0.18% Georgian : 0.14% Jewish : 0.10% German : 0.06% Uzbek : 0.06% others : 7.42%

Below is the religious composition of the city:^[4][5]

• Russian Orthodox : 45.5%
• Atheism : 9.0%
• Other Christianity : 3.0%
• Other Orthodoxy : 2.0%
• Rodnovery : 1.0%
• Islam : 1.0%
• Other, undeclared or "spiritual but not religious" : 38.5%

The largest cities are:

• Balashikha - 507,307
• Podolsk - 309,250
• Khimki - 257,757