Chelyabinsk Oblast is situated on the border of Europe and Asia in the southern part of the Urals. The total area is 87,900 square km. (0.51% of the total land mass of Russia), including 56% - arable land, 27% - forest.
The oblast is comprised of 27 cities, nearly 300 settlements, and 24 administrative districts.
Main cities in 1994, pop. in thousands:
| Chelyabinsk | 1,150.9 |
| Magnitogorsk | 439.6 |
| Zlatoust | 208.2 |
| Miass | 184.8 |
| Kopeysk | 145.8 |
Population, in thousands (% of total Russian
pop.):
| 1989 (census) | 3,624 (2.46) |
| 1993 (estimation) | 3,634 (2.44) |
| 1995 (estimation) | 3,699,8 (2.49) |
| Total urban pop. | 3,007.4 (81.3% of the total oblast pop., average - in Russia 73%) |
| Total rural pop. | 692.4 |
Chelyabinsk Oblast is a highly developed industrial region which occupies the fifth position in Russia (after Moscow, St.Petersburg, Moscow and Sverdlovsk Oblast) by volume of industrial production. Ferrous metallurgy and mechanical engineering play a leading role in the multi-faceted economic complex of this region.
Possessing unique natural resources (multi-component ores, rare metals, semiprecious stones, secondary minerals), a developed transport system, and an advantageous position in the center of the country, the region actively develops economic links.