The Surrounding Society and the Main Economic Activity of the Region

The Khanty-Mansi autonomous area - Yugra is the largest oil-producing region in the world. The oil and gas sectors of the economy provide the primary share of the gross product, ensure the influx of investment into the area, support the development of infrastructure, as well the structure of export.

The industrial development of the area, heaily driven by oil and gas, has radically changed the social landscape of the region, including the daily life of its minorities. The industrial development of the area accounted for an increased share of the non-locals coming to live there. Currently, the minorities of the North (Khanty, Mansi, and Forest Nenets) make up as little as 2% of the total population of the area.

The industrial and transportational development has determined the intensity of migration processes among the minorities. As early as 1970s, researchers already began to record an increasing tendency for the minorities to leave their traditional territories. The reasons for moving to the city are due both to the economic factors associated with the decline in production (primarily in the traditional sectors of the economy) and the growth of unemployment rate in rural areas. Some reasons are subjective, such as marriages or a desire to properly educate the children.

One of the downsides of these migration processes is the occasionally forced nature of relocations, when, under the influence of industrial development, people are forced to leave their ancestral lands in search of new untouched places or to move to cities and settlements.