A ccording to the results of all-Russia census, the number of permanent population of the Smolensk oblast by January 1, 2005 made up 1019.0 thousand people, including 634.4 thousand of able-bodied citizens.

Average earnings per capita in 2005 made up 5364 rubles. The subsistence level in the Smolensk oblast in the IV quarter of 2005 equaled 2510 rubles.

In 2005 labor payments remained the major source of income - 38% of the total money in-come of the population. Incomes from private businesses made up 17%, social transfers - 17%, other sources - 28%.

The main part of expenditures was taken by goods purchasing and payments for services. Their amount made up 75% of all the annual expenditures of the population.

Culture

Within the framework of the federal program "Culture of Russia (2001-2005)" the following funds were allocated in 2005 - 9.2 mln. Rur including 7.05 mln. rur - from the federal budget, 1.23 mln. rur - from the regional budget, 0.2 mln. rur - from the local municipal budg-ets, 0.66 mln. rur of own funds, 0.06 mln. rur of sponsor funds.

Financing from the federal budget were allocated for the following activities:
• "Art of Russia" - for the arrangement of the 48 All-Russian Glinka Festival - 0.2 mln. rub.
• Historical and cultural monuments – for the project and restoration works of the iconostasis and the bell tower in the Griboedov family house in Khmelita, restoration works of the Odihitria Church in Bogoroditskoye family house, Vyazemsky district; building of the former technical school from Volkov tower as far as Dnepr gates of Smolensk fortress; Savior’s Tower of Vyazma fortress; part of the A.S. Khomyakov family house “Lipitsy”; main Aleksino family house in Dorogoduzh – 6,2 mln.rub.;
• Cultural basis of federalism and national policy – for the inter-regional competition of choirs and groups of veterans of World War II “When our souls are young” – 0,15 mln.rub.;
• Cinematography of Russia – for the propaganda of Russian movies, including activities for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the victory in World War II – 0,5mln.rub.;

Education and Youth policy

Early 2006 there were 280 pre-school educational institutions, 606 public schools with the total number of pupils 94 thousand (including orphanages), 13 schools for children with limited mental abilities and 1 health improving center.

The number of pre-school institutions of the "Primary school-kindergarten" type (13 centers) have increased as well as the number of pre-school groups with short-term stay of children. The pre-school education covers about 74.1% of children in Smolensk region. Development and innovation edu-cational technologies covered about 55% of the educational institutions. Within the framework of the federal program " Setting up of the common information environment" new computer equipment was installed in 492 rural schools, 116 municipal schools, 14 boarding schools, 92% of schools were hooked up to the regional Internet network.

The number of students graduating with golden and silver medal "For successes in studying" (519 graduates in 2002 and 514 graduates in 2004 remains stable). Most successful students of senior grades are awarded a Duke Smolensky Roman Rostislavovich scholarship.

The professional education in Smolensk region is represented by 34 educational institutions of higher education, 49 educational institutions of secondary vocational education and 36 - primary voca-tional institutions. The average annual number of students is 70.5 thousand people (university), 29.2 thousand (colleges) and 10.2 thousand people (vocational schools).

In order to encourage research activities and preserve the human resources potential an annual competition of young scientists is held.

Smolensk region has been more than once announced by the Ministry of Education of the RF one of the best regions in arranging activities focused on patriotic education of young people.

Annual rallies of the members of Smolensk Regional Children's Public Organization named after Y/ Gagarin are held. This organization has more than 12 thousand members in 22 districts of the region. There are 39 search groups operating in 23 districts which found and re-buried more than 2 thousand remains of World War II soldiers during 19 search mission in 2005.

Residential building

Housing construction is one of the priority activities of the construction complex of Smolensk region. Primary attention is focused on the architectural design of new residential buildings, development of new amenities and enhancing their economy in use.

The actual cost of 1 sq.m of housing amounted to 12 356 rur in 2005.

More than 269.395 thousand m of housing (3 690 apartments) were put into operation on the ter-ritory of the region in 2005, which is a 2.3% increase as compared to 2003. Individual developers com-pleted 96.9 thousand sq. m of housing. All new houses are designed and built taking into account new requirements for heat reflection of the frame-filling.

Housing construction has been going on the territory of all municipalities. The major volume of the housing construction falls on the regional center. In Smolensk alone 166.3 thousand sq. m of housing were put into operation.

The best developers in 2005 were:
• JSC company "Smolenskoblgrazhdanstroy" (General Director Bakhrakh A.A.) put into operation 33.8 thousand sq.m of housing;
• JSC SPK "Smolenskstroyzakazchik" (General Director Potapov A.N. - 23.5 thousand sq. m of housing );
• JSC "Smolstromservice" (General Director Kosykh V.F.) - 20.5 thousand sq. m of housing.
• LTD FSK "Vezh" (General Director Vereikin S.N.) - 10.6 thousand sq. m of housing;

The Department of Smolensk region for Construction and Architecture is a subcontractor of the Federal Program "Housing" - sob-program "State housing certificates" (Federal law "On housing subsi-dies to citizens relocating from the North territories"). In 2005 within the framework of this program 55 certificates were allocated for citizens discharged from military service with the total amount of subsi-dies of 33.548 mln. Rur. The Federal budget allocated 2 certificates worth of 598 thousand rubles for the implementation of the Federal law "On housing subsidies to citizens relocating from the North territories".

Criminality level

There were 28 596 crimes committed in the region in 2005 (2 824 crimes per 100 thousand of popula-tion). The percentage of serious crimes and criminal offences amounted to 31% in the total number of crimes, which is 9% higher than in 2004. The criminality structure is dominated by thefts - 45% and robberies - 9%.