Kaliningrad region is the westernmost region of the Russian Federation completely separated from the rest of the territory of the country by the land frontiers of foreign states and by international sea waters. It borders on Lithuania in the north and in the east, and in the south it borders on Poland. This is the only Russian territory which shores are washed by the waters of the open part of the Baltic sea and its lagoons – the Curonian and Kaliningrad lagoons.

       The region was formed in 1945 after the Decision of Potsdam Conference of three great powers (the USSR, the USA, and Great Britain) regarding abolishment of Eastern Prussia, the northern part of which went to the Soviet Union after the World War II.

       On 7th April 1946 the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet adopted the Decree "On Creating Königsberg Region as a Part of the RSFSR", and on the 4th July its administrative centre was given a new name - Kaliningrad, and the region was renamed to Kaliningrad region.

      The region stretches from west to east for 205 km maximum, from north to south – for 108 km. The territory area totals 15.1 ths. sq. km.

      The distances to many European capitals are relatively small:

• 350 km to Vilnius;
• 390 km to Riga;
• 400 km to Warsaw;
• 600 km to Berlin.

       The regional administrative centre is Kaliningrad city founded in 1255 (until 1946 it was called Königsberg).

       The unique nature site – the Curonian Spit listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site is located here.

       Kaliningrad region specializes in fishery and fish processing, paper and light industry articles production. The region also extracts and processes amber (Yantarniy settlement).

       955.3 ths. people populate Kaliningrad region according to the published official data of State Statistics Committee (Goskomstat) concerning the latest census of the Russian Federation population. 456.1 ths. among them are men, and 499.2 ths. are women. The share of the urban population amounts to 741.5 ths. people, 351 ths. among them are men and 390.5 ths. are women.

       213.8 ths. people live in the countryside of Kaliningrad region. In this case the ratio of men and women is almost even: 105.1 to 108.7 ths. people. As to age groups the population is distributed in the following way: able-bodied population – 60.9%, the population which is younger than the able-bodied one – 19.6%, the population which is older than able-bodied one- 19.5%.

       The regional population is multinational, there are representatives of 30 nationalities and ethnic groups. The Russians are the most numerous among them – 78.1%, the Belarussians – 7.7%, the Ukrainians – 7.6%, the Lithuanians – 1.9%, the Armenians – 0.8%, the Germans – 0.6%, the Poles – 0.5%.

       The region includes 15 municipal areas and 7 town districts. Urban population equals to 77.7% of the total amount of the residents. Average population density amounts to 63 persons per 1 sq. km. Gusev, Chernyakhovsk, Bagrationovsk, Neman, and Gvardeysk districts are the most densely populated.