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Murmansk under 300,000

Murmansk, the largest city in the world north of the Arctic Circle.

While Russia just recorded the first natural population growth since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it’s the other way around for Murmansk.

Location

At the peak in 1989, Murmansk had around 480,000 inhabitants. By end of 2013, the population of the city is now 299,100, down another 3,400 compared with 2012, FlashNord reports with reference to the Bureau of medical statistics.

The main reason for the decline is emigration out of the region. 3,478 children were born, while 3,462 died in Murmansk last year. Murmansk, however, still holds the position as the largest city in the world north of the Arctic Circle.

In Murmansk Oblast, the population was down 1,2 percent in 2013. 771,000 people lives in the region, reports B-port with referance to Murmanskstat. In the late 80ies, Murmansk Oblast had nearly 1,2 million people (see visualisation graph under). 

In 2013, Russia recorded the first natural growth since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to Rosstat, the growth wasn’t particularly large, counting to 23,000 people. The population was by January 2014 said to be 145,7 million. If counting the around 2 million people that was added two weeks ago, when Russia decided to annexing Crimea from Ukraine, the total population in the Federation is now close to 148 million.