 Kaluzhskaya Oblast is located in Central Russia adjacent to Moscow Oblast and just 180 km south of Moscow. The Oblast covers 29,800 square kilometers, of which 46 percent is agricultural and 43 percent (or 1.28 million hectares) is covered by forest. Kaluga Oblast is surrounded by Smolensk, Bryansk, Orel, Tula and Moscow oblasts. It is traversed by major railways that connect Moscow with Ukraine, the Volga region, and Belarus. The Moscow-Kiev and Moscow-Brest highways are two important automobile roads. There are four airports in Kaluga region located around the cities of Kaluga, Balobanovo, and Kirov.
The population of the Kaluzhskaya oblast is 1.1 million people, of which 74.4% are urban inhabitants. There are 345,000 people living in Kaluga city, the capital of the oblast, and 110,000 in Obninsk, the second largest city.
Kaluzhskaya oblast claims 4 2 institutes, universities, and research centers that involve the work of 14 thousand scientists. One-fifth of the oblast's work force has a higher education and one-half has secondary vocational training.
Discovered natural deposits in Kaluzhskaya oblast include brown coal, peat, phosphorites, gypsum, chalk; glass, moulding and construction sand, and clay, as well as a large stocks of mineral waters. Another natural resource is wood: the total forested area of the oblast is 1.28 million hectares, and timber reserves are estimated at 191 million cubic meters of primarily deciduous breeds.
Major industries include:
- Machinery and metallurgy - a leading sector of the oblast's industry, where 257 firms produce up to 35% of regional industrial produc tion.
- Food-processing - the companies in the sector work primarily to meet local consumer's demand. There are 157 food-processing companies, including Kaluga meat-processing plant, Kristall distiller, and KaPePa, a joint- venture.
- Wood and paper - The sector includes 119 companies, such as the furniture factory in Maloyaroslavets as well as a Plywood Factory, and employs over 7,000 people (or 2% of the workforce).
- Electrical engineering - involves 10 companies, including Kalugaenergo, the regional energy supplier, and Kalugaoblgas, and employs 4.9 thousand people.
Altogether these industries account for two thirds of regional output and employ 20% of the oblast's workforce. Other Kaluga major enterprises produce turbine and gas turbine engines, electronics for the automobile industry, locomotives, radar-tracking equipment, digital radio-electronic equipment, as well as high quality footwear and clothes. The rest of the regional production includes building materials, chemical and petrochemical products, as well as glass and porcelain and light industry goods.
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