Surrounding society and the main economic activity of the region of residence

The population of the Oka district accounts for only 0.6% of the entire population of the Republic of Buryatia. Its social demographics have certain specific features:

- the district has the lowest population density of 0.2 people /1 square km (the figure for the Republic of Buryatia is 2.6 people /1 square km);

- the republic is ethnically dominated by Buryats (75.9%), the remaining population is composed of the Soyot (21.8%) and other ethnicities (2.3%).

- unlike other Buryatia districts, the Oka district has a male-female balance with a slight prevalence of men (97 women per 100 men);

- the Oka district has always had a high birth rate that is several times higher than the average rate in Buryatia because the Soyot preserve their ethnic culture and traditions of family and marital relations, such as multi-child families and many generations of the same family living together.

Currently, the population in the district is fragmented. Nearly half live in the district center (the village of Orlik), and the rest live along the valley of the river Oka in small villages with a population of 100-500 persons.

The Oka district municipal unit has a big natural potential. Its unique nature greatly restricts the district’s intensive economic development. About 1097.6 hectares of forests cover 43.8% of its area. The district has extremely harsh conditions, is very hard to reach, and has a lot of extractable resources. It has an extremely rough topography with altitudes between 700 and 3400 meters above sea level.

The municipal district has over twenty deposits of gold, rare metals, bauxites, phosphates, asbestos, graphite, jade, and building stone. Some of them have the largest reserves not only in Buryatia, but also in Russia such as the Zun-Kolba lode gold deposit, the Kharanur phosphate deposit, and the Bokson bauxite deposit. The Botogol vein graphite deposit, the Khara-Zhalga and Ospa jade deposits, and the Bural-Sarkdyk and Upper Oka extra pure quartz deposits have reserves of unique quality.

The mineral and raw materials complex of the municipal district has certain development features stemming from the fact that one of the goals of its socioeconomic development lies in preserving the natural environment of the indigenous small-numbered people, the Soyot. Consequently, one area in the district was designated as an industrial zone and a territory for mining mineral resources without damaging the Soyot’s environment, and another area was designated as a nature reserve where no resource extraction is allowed. Consequently, it appears that the development of the mineral and raw resources complex in the Oka district can only involve developing lode gold, asbestos, and jade deposits, and the Kharanur secondary phosphate deposit.

The Oka district has the following competitive advantages:

1. The economic structure can be improved. The socioeconomic development is geared toward supporting and stimulating:

- manufacturing facilities with major research and technological potential capable of competitively participating in the Russian and Buryat markets (industry);

- manufacturing facilities of major significance for Buryatia’s market (agriculture).

2. Major reserves of mineral and raw materials resources (gold, rare metals, bauxites, phosphates, asbestos, graphite, and jade deposits) that would allow for launching new manufacturing facilities.
3. The possibility of developing tourism using the district’s natural resources to develop itinerary-based tourism, including environmental, academic, historical and educational, ethnographic tourism, rafting, etc.
4. Its geographic location is close to the border with Mongolia. Its border crossings offer the possibility of developing foreign trade.
5. Meeting to the highest possible degree the cultural needs of the population, modernizing the infrastructure of cultural establishments, promoting professional arts and folk arts on the inter-district and inter-regional levels, and supporting talented and prospective younger generations.