Jewish AО - Атлас этнических региональных автономий - Сеть по исследованию идентичности

Description of the autonomy

The only autonomous oblast in the Russian Federation. It is located in the southern part of the Russian Far East. In the south, it borders on the Amur River coincides with the state border of Russia and China.

The titular ethnic group is the Jews. The defining markers of their differences from the titular nation of the country are the language (Yiddish, Hebrew) and religion (Judaism). The uniqueness of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast is that it was created as a national-territorial entity for immigrants in a territory that had never before been a place of compact residence for a titular group. In 1930, the Resolution of the Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR "On the Formation of the Birobidzhan Jewish National Raion as part of the Far Eastern Krai" was adopted. In 1934, the Birobidzhan Jewish National Raion received the status of an autonomous national region. For a long time, the Jewish Autonomous Region was an integral part of the Khabarovsk Territory. In 1991, the Regional Council of People's Deputies adopted the Declaration on State and Legal Status, and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast became an independent entity of the Russian Federation.

According to the results of the All-Russia Population Census of 2010, the share of the titular ethnic group in the JAO is only 1% of the population, while the Russians make up 92.7%. Nevertheless, the ethnic specification of the region is quite actively marked in the public sphere (symbolic, festive/memorable/historical dates, etc.). The situation in interethnic relations is assessed as stable.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer