Nizhny Novgorod Oblast (Нижегоро́дская о́бласть) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast).

The oblast has an area of 76,900 km², and a population of 3,524,028 (as of 2002 All-Russian Population Census). Its administrative center is the city of Nizhny Novgorod. With a population of 1.3 million, Nizhny Novgorod is the largest city of the region and the 4th largest city of the Russian Federation, after Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg.

The Nizhny Novgorod Region is not rich in natural resources, which are, mostly, limited to commercial deposits of sand (including titanium-zirconium sands), clay, gypsum, peat, mineral salt, and timber. For this reason, the regional economy has been focused on developing its industrial and processing sectors, R&D and transport, which produce almost 80% the Gross Regional Product (GRP).

There are 722 industrial companies in the region, most of them engaged in the following sectors:

• Machine-building and engineering
• Chemical & petrochemical
• Fuel & energy
• Ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy
• Construction materials
• Glass
• Wood and paper
• Cloth-making
• Food & food processing
• Medical & pharmaceuticals
• Printing & publishing.

These key industries are supplemented by other sectors of the economy such as agriculture, trade, services, communications and transport.

According to preliminary estimations, in 2002, the GRP of the Nizhny Novgorod region totaled US$ 5.6 billion, where the industrial and transportation companies produced US$ 4.5 billion. The regional companies demonstrated 6.6% growth in output, which is higher than the national growth in Russia for the last year. In 2002, high growth was registered in machine-building (+13.6%), fuel industry (+49%), ferrous metallurgy (+8.9%), wood & paper production (+2.4%), and printing & publishing (+6.2%). Foreign investment in the region totaled US$84.5 million with 95% of them invested into industrial enterprises. In 2003, the regional government forecast minimum 3.8% growth of industrial output.

Administrative Division

Districts

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast consists of the following districts (Russian: районы):

• Ardatovsky (Ардатовский)
• Arzamassky (Арзамасский)
• Balakhninsky (Балахнинский)
• Bogorodsky (Богородский)
• Bolsheboldinsky (Большеболдинский)
• Bolshemurashkinsky (Большемурашкинский)
• Borsky (Борский)
• Buturlinsky (Бутурлинский)
• Chkalovsky (Чкаловский)
• Dalnekonstantinovsky (Дальнеконстантиновский)
• Diveyevsky (Дивеевский)
• Gaginsky (Гагинский)
• Gorodetsky (Городецкий)
• Knyagininsky (Княгининский)
• Koverninsky (Ковернинский)
• Krasnobakovsky (Краснобаковский)
• Krasnooktyabrsky (Краснооктябрьский)
• Kstovsky (Кстовский)
• Kulebaksky (Кулебакский)
• Lukoyanovsky (Лукояновский)
• Lyskovsky (Лысковский)
• Navashinsky (Навашинский)
• Pavlovsky (Павловский)
• Perevozsky (Перевозский)
• Pervomaysky (Первомайский)
• Pilninsky (Пильнинский)
• Pochinkovsky (Починковский)
• Sechenovsky (Сеченовский)
• Semyonovsky (Семёновский)
• Sergachsky (Сергачский)
• Shakhunsky (Шахунский)
• Sharangsky (Шарангский)
• Shatkovsky (Шатковский)
• Sokolsky (Сокольский)
• Sosnovsky (Сосновский)
• Spassky (Спасский)
• Tonkinsky (Тонкинский)
• Tonshayevsky (Тоншаевский)
• Urensky (Уренский)
• Vachsky (Вачский)
• Vadsky (Вадский)
• Varnavinsky (Варнавинский)
• Vetluzhsky (Ветлужский)
• Volodarsky (Володарский)
• Vorotynsky (Воротынский)
• Voskresensky (Воскресенский)
• Voznesensky (Вознесенский)
• Vyksunsky (Выксунский)