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Governor: Every fifth resident in Yakutia’s Arctic districts lives in poverty

President Putin earlier issued an order to have key social and economic rates in the Far East higher than the average national rates

MOSCOW, December 12. /TASS/. The living standards in Yakutia’s Arctic districts remain worse than in the region’s other parts: the unemployment there exceeds the average levels by 2.5 times, and practically every fifth resident lives in poverty, Yakutia’s Governor Aisen Nikolayev said on Wednesday.

President Putin earlier issued an order to have key social and economic rates in the Far East higher than the average national rates.

"Almost 20% of people in the region’s Arctic zone live in poverty," the official said. "The registered unemployment is higher there by 2.5 times - it is 4.5%, and the mortality rate is 9.9%, while the average level in the region is 7.8%."

He continued by saying Yakutia is a "demographically positive region" with natural population growth. But at the same time the number of people living in the region’s Arctic areas has shrunk from 148,000 in 1990 to current 67,000.

Solving these problems requires "extraordinary measures." The region has a separate ministry on development of the Arctic and on the North’s peoples. "Every state program we have contains an Arctic chapter," he said. "We shall begin a complex program to 2024 to develop Yakutia’s Arctic zone and the North’s indigenous peoples." Besides, Yakutia has lifted certain taxes and now continues construction of new housing, social facilities and transport infrastructures.