Beloyarsk, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug

Beloyarsk Белоярск
Village
Beloyarsk Location in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Show map of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug Beloyarsk Location in Russia Show map of Russia
Coordinates: 66°52′7″N 68°9′11″E / 66.86861°N 68.15306°E / 66.86861; 68.15306
Country	Russia
Republic	Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug
District	Priuralsky
Area [1]
• Total	0.464 km2 (0.179 sq mi)
Elevation [2]	23 m (75 ft)
Population  (2025)[3]
• Total	3,614
• Density	7,800/km2 (20,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+5 (YEKT)
Area code	34993

Beloyarsk (Russian: Белоярск) is a Nenets ethnic village^[4], and the second largest village by population in Priuralsky District, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Russia. Located along a tributary of the Ob River, the village has thirteen streets and its own airport registered with Yamal Airlines, and villagers can also travel to the outside world by helicopter.^[5][6]

Beloyarsk has a subarctic climate (Köppen classification: Dfc). The village experiences cold winters and mild summers, with an average annual temperature of -1.5°C. July is the warmest month with an average temperature of 17.4°C and maximum temperatures reaching 25.7°C. January is the coldest month, with an average temperature of -19.7°C and temperatures dropping as low as -35.2°C.^[7]

Annual precipitation is distributed across 188 days, with 84 rainy days predominantly in summer and 104 snowy days mostly during winter and transitional seasons. The remaining year consists of 58 clear days and 120 cloudy days.^[7]

Humidity is highest during winter months (93-96%) and lowest in summer (72-83%). The prevailing wind direction is from the southwest (24.6%), followed by west (17.2%) and northeast (15.3%).^[7]

Seasonal characteristics^[7]:

• Winter (December-February): Average temperatures range from -19.7°C to -13.3°C with consistent snowfall.
• Spring (March-May): Gradual warming from -11.0°C in March to 0.7°C in May.
• Summer (June-August): Mild temperatures between 10.4°C and 17.4°C with frequent rainfall.
• Autumn (September-November): Rapid cooling from 13.0°C in September to -9.4°C in November.

In 2021, a veterinary study was done on eight to 11 deer around Beloyarsk village as to how concentrated dioxins, cadmium and mercury were in their internal organs (kidney, liver, muscles). Relative to other regions in Northern Russia, Beloyarsk deer had, overall, moderate levels of dioxins, cadmium and mercury per kilogram of fat in all three organs studied.^[8]

The settlement was founded in 1951, starting with the implementation of a Soviet collective farm named after Joseph Stalin, and was given its own village council in 1953^[9]. After founding, although the collective farm was the main source of employment and economic activity in the village at the time, residents started to diversify trade to include fishing and hunting reindeer for both meat and fur. Ten years later in 1961, the farm was expanded and merged with another nearby farm down the river into the larger Baidaratsky state farm, whose finances were run by Babin Nikolay Andreevich from 1958 to 1993.^[10]

All state farms in Beloyarsk except one were eventually closed by 1997 and privatized.^[11] The only remaining state farm (now partially privatized) is a large reindeer breeding farm, managed by Kuzyukov Alexander Vladimirovich since 2024. In 2024, The state farm reportedly employed 115 people and generated 144 million rubles of revenue ($1.75 million) in 2024, as well as a net loss of 1.2 million rubles ($14,500) and owned 45 million rubles ($550,000) of fixed assets.^[12] Its customers include both of the Beloyarsk schools as well as institutions in the nearby village Aksarka. The farm has also undergone 46 arbitration cases worth 1.2 billion rubles ($14.5 million) in total collectively, as well as 45 lawsuits^[13]

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the re-emergence of Russian religion after nearly a century of secularism, there has been competition of religious factions among the Nenets people. As of 2018, many Beloyarsk residents are reported to have taken anti-sectarian, religiously conservative views - resistant to missionaries from other sects of the larger Russian Orthodox Church, with one of the protestant ministers from the village, Tatiana Vagramenko, quoting in a 2018 speech (translated to English)^[14]:

Nowadays there are many missions that want to come here, but we don’t let them [come here]. Because they do only harm. I am sure there exist destructive sects. Never mind that they want to evangelize and so on, we don’t let them come here, don’t cooperate with them, and sometimes even prevent them from their activity. I would rather complain against them to the local administration than let them go to the tundra.

• In 2015, a hospital was built in the village taking up 2500 square meters of land, featuring a polyclinic, outpatient clinic, 16-bed hospital with modern two-patient wards, maternity ward, physiotherapy department, tuberculosis unit, diagnostic facilities including an X-ray room and laboratories, and specialty offices for pediatricians, surgeons, dentists, gynecologists, therapists, and physiotherapists, with capacity to serve 50 patients per shift.^[15]
• Beloyark's own rural settlement district Beloyarskoye was established in 2005, although this district was abolished 16 years later in 2021.^[16] The same year, Beloyarsk established its own local (territorial/village-level) administration. This administration was run by Ryazanov Andrey Georgievich from 2023 to 2025, but was succeeded by Marina Anatolyevna Vityazyeva in 2025. It manages public finances, pensions and social services.^{[9] [17][18]} The government building takes up 123 square meters of land.^[19]
• In 2018, Valery Stepanchenko, Chairman of the regional "A JUST RUSSIA" party branch and Yamal Legislative Assembly deputy, made a working visit to Beloyarsk, inspected local social infrastructure including a water treatment plant, solid waste disposal site, and the under-construction village Temple which he personally supervises. Stepanchenko emphasized the importance of such local visits for addressing community needs, with particular focus on youth education and local utilities and environmental concerns. He also noted that the maintenance of a recently built winter road to Aksarka was being kept in satisfactory condition despite challenging weather.^[20][21]
• In 2025, a post office was built in Beloyarsk.^[22]
• Throughout the 2010s, the village gained access to 22 radio and television stations, predominately state-owned ones.^[23]
• As of 2025, the village has its own fire department run by the Ministry of Emergency Situation (EMERCOM, which also has its own general purpose office in the village).^[24][25]

Beloyarsk's population has increased since 1989 when it was 1539^[26], to 1487 in 2002^[27], to 1850 in 2010^[28]. The population fell by two people a decade later; in 2020, Beloyarsk had a total population of 1848 people^[29]:

• 750 of which had native Nenets ethnicity.
• 490 of which showed proficiency in Nenets languages.
• 433 of which indicated Nenets as their native language instead of Russian.

The Beloyarsk population then grew rapidly to 2,178 in 2021^[30], then 3,614 people in 2025.^[31]

As of 2025, the age distribution is^[31]:

• Children under 6 years: 361 people (10%)
• School-age children (7-17 years): 426 people (11.8%)
• Young adults (18-29 years): 434 people (12%)
• Adults (30-59 years): 1,554 people (43%)
• Elderly (over 60 years): 788 people (21.8%)
• Long-livers (over 80 years): 51 people (1.4%)

As of 2025, Beloyarsk's gender distribution was 1,613 men (44.62%) and 2,001 women (55.38%). The female-to-male ratio increases significantly in older age groups, with women comprising 77.4% of residents over 80 years old.^[31]

The educational attainment of Beloyarsk residents as of 2025^[31]:

• Higher education: 1,156 people (32.0%)
• Incomplete higher education: 130 people (3.6%)
• Secondary vocational education: 1,146 people (31.7%)
• Completed 11 grades: 437 people (12.1%)
• Completed 9 grades: 224 people (6.2%)
• Completed 5 grades: 264 people (7.3%)
• No formal education: 22 people (0.6%)
• Illiterate: 7 people (0.2%)

As of 2025, the employment status of Beloyarsk's population is^[31]:

• Employed population: 2,154 people (59.6%)
• Officially registered unemployed: 210 people (5.8%)
• Pensioners: 1,048 people (29%)

As of 2025, the village has 288 residents with disabilities (7.97% of the total population)^[31]:

• Group 1 (severe) disabilities: 34 people (0.94%)
• Group 2 (moderate) disabilities: 123 people (3.41%)
• Group 3 (mild) disabilities: 113 people (3.14%)
• Children with disabilities: 16 people (0.44%)

Beloyarsk has a primary school "Brusnichka School" that was founded in 2012^[32]. The kindergarten building takes up 2500 square metres and two stories, compared to the 12000 square meter land area if the school field and sports areas are included, featuring six group rooms, medical facilities with isolation rooms, a cafeteria with modern equipment, laundry facilities, art studios, choreography rooms, specialized spaces for speech therapy, psychology, and native language instruction, computer labs, a winter garden, comprehensive security systems including accessibility features for children with limited mobility, and capacity for 120 children primarily from indigenous northern families aged 2-7 years.^[33]

As of 2022, the only secondary school in Beloyarsk is Beloyarsk Boarding School, founded in 1998, with 616 students total; 280 of which are boarders. The boarding school has been headed by Korosteleva Olga Vladimirovna since 2018.^[34] The United Nations non-governmental organization International Decade of Indigenous Languages visited the school in 2022 as part of an ethnographic project to help the school set up a course where students could specialize in learning the native languages of the Northern Russian people, such as Tundra Nenets, Northern Khanty and Komi. Together, the teachers (including some who travelled from Aksarka to partake in the project) and the NGO workers used fictional stories, projects, indigenous doll-making sessions and competitions to educate the students to this end, while informing the students about the work of International Decade of Indigenous Languages itself.^[35]

Later the same year, 422 students from the school volunteered in an ophthalmology study.^[36]

As of 2025, the average monthly salary in Beloyarsk was 93,380₽, representing an increase of 7,470₽ from the 2024 average of 85,910₽. The village economy shows significant wage variation across sectors: micro-enterprises (businesses with fewer than 15 employees) paid an average of 56,030₽, while budgetary institutions offered an average of 74,700₽.^[37]

The village economy spans several sectors with varying wage levels^[37]:

• Medicine: Offering the highest salaries in the village, ranging from 56,320₽ to 162,220₽ monthly. Medical positions include chief physician (162,220₽), department heads (121,870₽), dentists (105,070₽), surgeons (104,230₽), and therapists (91,620₽).
• Education: Education professionals earn between 52,110₽ and 94,890₽ monthly. School teachers receive an average of 94,890₽, tutors 72,290₽, and kindergarten teachers 52,110₽.
• Agriculture: Agricultural workers earn between 61,360₽ and 78,170₽ monthly, with positions including livestock specialists (78,170₽), agronomists (73,130₽), tractor drivers (68,080₽), and machine operators (61,360₽).
• Trade: Commercial employees earn between 55,480₽ and 73,970₽ monthly, including commodity experts (73,970₽), cashiers (66,400₽), and sales personnel (55,480₽).
• Beauty industry: Beauticians earn between 50,430₽ and 99,180₽ monthly, including massage therapists (99,180₽), hairdressers (62,200₽), and manicurists (50,430₽).
• Unskilled labor: Workers without specialized qualifications earn between 41,190₽ and 54,640₽ monthly, including social workers (54,640₽), general laborers (53,800₽), caregivers (52,110₽), postal workers (47,910₽), and cleaners (41,190₽).