'Novosibirsk Oblast' (, ''Novosibirskaya oblast'') is a
federal subject of
Russia (an
oblast). Its administrative center is the
city of
Novosibirsk.
Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the southeastern Western Siberian plain, at the foothills of low Salair ridge, between the
Ob and
Irtysh Rivers. Novosibirsk Oblast borders
Omsk Oblast (W),
Tomsk Oblast (N), and
Kemerovo Oblast (E). The southern and the southwestern borders of Novosibirsk Oblast are with
Altai Krai and the state of
Kazakhstan (
Pavlodar Oblysy). The territory of the oblast extends for more than 600 km from west to east, and for over 400 km from north to south. Novosibirsk Oblast is mainly plain; at south the steppes prevail; at north enormous tracts of woodland with great number of marshes prevail. There are many lakes, the largest ones located at the south. The majority of the rivers belong to the
Ob basin, many of them falling in dead lakes. Largest lakes are
Chani,
Sartlan,
Ubinskoye, and some others.
Time zone
Unlike in its immediate neighbors,
Decree Time is abolished in Novosibirsk Oblast. This means that the time shift is the same as in
Omsk Oblast, which borders it on the west, even though it is technically located in a different timezone, and one hour ahead of
Kemerovo Oblast despite it being in the same timezone.
Novosibirsk Oblast is located in the
Novosibirsk Time Zone (NOVT/NOVST).
UTC offset is +0600 (NOVT)/+0700 (NOVST).
Administrative divisions
Demographics
According to the (
2002 Census), the national composition of the oblast was 93.0%
Russians; 1.8%
Germans; 1.3%
Ukrainians; 1.0%
Tatars; 0.4%
Kazakhs; 0.3%
Belarusians; 0.3%
Armenians; 0.3%
Azeris; and 0.2%
Chuvash. Many other groups were also counted, but none were more than 0.2% of the population.