Geographical position
Size
Human capital
Potential of natural resources
Infrastructure

Geographical location:
in the environment of the European Community

In many respects, the Kaliningrad region is a unique subject of the Russian Federation. It is the westernmost region of the country separated from its basic territory by territories of other countries and international seawaters. In May 2004, Kaliningrad region’s nearest neighbours – Poland and Lithuania – joined the European Union, and, as a result, the region found itself completely surrounded by the member states of this leading integrated group of the world.
The distances from Kaliningrad to many European capitals is much shorter than the distance to Moscow. For example, it is 350 km to Vilnius (Lithuania), 400 km to Warsaw (Poland), 600 km to Berlin (Germany), 650 km to Stokholm (Sweden), 680 km to Copenhagen (Denmark), but 1290 km to Moscow.

Size:
smaller than Slovenia but larger than Luxembourg

The region is not large: it takes just a few hours to cross its territory by car. The maximum west-to-east length of the Region is about 205 km, and north-to-south 108 km. In terms of its area (15.1 thou. sq. km) it is the smallest region of Russia and one of the smallest administrative territories of the Russian Federation. However, the Kaliningrad region is only 25 % smaller than Slovenia but 6 times larger than Luxembourg.

Human capital:
Skilled and inexpensive labour

According to the data of the Russian national population census in 2002, 955.3 thousand persons lived in the region. 77.6 % (741.5 thousand persons) of them lived in urban territories, of which the basic part (421,000) lived in an administrative centre of region – in Kaliningrad. As of 1 January, 2005, the estimated population of the region made up 944.2 thousand persons.
By Russian criteria, the population of the region is rather young: the average age of its inhabitants is 34.1 years, while the average in Russia as a whole is 37.1 years, and in the North-Western Federal Area 40.2 years. The share of population in working age is 60.9%, younger than working age 19.6%, older than working age 19.5% (in the RF 18.1%, 61.3% and 20.5%, respectively).
The Kaliningrad region has a highly skilled labour force. According to the Russian national census of 2002, among the employed population older than 15 years, the share of people with the incomplete higher, complete higher, and above higher education is 27.7 %, with secondary vocational training 38.6 % (in the Russian Federation as a whole 26.3 % and 35.6 %, respectively). Among all territories and regions of Russia, the share of persons with higher education in the Kaliningrad region concedes only to the Moscow and Tomsk regions, and to Habarovsk territory.
The level of wages in the region is a little below the average Russian level. In 2003, the gross monthly average wages per 1 worker here is 4,947 rubles (about 90 % of the average Russian indicator), or approximately 156 US dollars at the mid-annual exchange rate
.

Potential of natural resources:
the ‘Amber Kuweit’

The region is widely known for its amber deposits, which amount to about 90 % of the world reserves of ‘the solar stone’. Besides, the region has essential stocks of high-quality oil, lignite, peat, rock-salt. Equally important are the region’s recreational resources: the mild climate of the southern Baltic seashore, broad sand beaches, mineral-water sources, and, finally, two unique natural objects – the Curonian and Vistula Spits.

Infrastructure:
intermodal transport hub

The capacity of the Kaliningrad regional transport complex enables it to play the role of one of the most important ‘windows’ on Europe in to meeting the increasing needs of the region in transportation of freights and passengers to/from the mainland Russian territory, and participating in servicing transit freight traffic of other countries. Kaliningrad transport complex has a number of substantial advantages. Thus, among all Russian ports only the Baltic Sea ports in Kaliningrad region are ice-free. The local network of paved roads in region is one of the most developed in Russia: the length of such roads per 1000 km2 is 303 km, whereas across Russia as a whole it is 27 km. There is also an international airport.

During the recent years, other components of the market infrastructure, such as telecommunication, banking, etc., were also developed in Kaliningrad region.