One of the three so-called "matryoshka" subordinate entities of the Russian Federation: it is part of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, being simultaneously a subordinate entity of the Russian Federation. It is located in the north-east of the European part of the country, most of the territory of the district is located beyond the Arctic Circle. In the north, the Nenets Autonomous District (Okrug) has an extensive seacoast, washed by the waters of the White, Barents and Kara Seas of the Arctic Ocean. It is the most sparsely populated subject of the Russian Federation. The economy of the Okrug is of a mono-profile nature and is oriented to the oil-extracting industry.
The Nenets District was established in 1929 under the name of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and became the first National Okrug in the Far North of Russia. In 1977 it was renamed the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. In 1993 it received the status of a subordinate entity of the federation.
The titular ethnic group is the Nenets, people inhabiting the Eurasian coast of the Arctic Ocean from the Kola Peninsula to Taimyr. Nenets are divided into European and Asian (Siberian). They are the most numerous out of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North. Language is the defining marker of their differences from the titular nation of the country. Nenets language belongs to the Samoyed group of the Uralic language family and consists of two dialects - tundra and forest. Traditionally, the Nenets are pagans, but at the present, most of them have adopted Orthodoxy.
According to the results of the All-Russia Population Census of 2010, Russians account for the largest share in the population of the okrug (66.1%). Nenets make up 18.6%. In addition, a significant share of the population is the Komi (9.0%).
The situation in inter-ethnic relations is characterized as stable.