Gomel Region Гомельская вобласць (Belarusian) Гомельская область (Russian) |
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Administrative center | Gomel | ||
Largest cities |
Gomel – 481,200 Mazyr – 111,800 Zhlobin – 72,800 |
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Raions | 21 Cities – 17 Urban localities – 278 Villages – 2,608 |
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City raions | 4 | ||
Area | |||
• Total | 40,361.66 km2 (15,583.72 sq mi) | ||
Population (2013) | |||
• Total | 1,426,674 | ||
• Density | 35/km2 (92/sq mi) | ||
Website | www.gomel-region.by |
Gomel Region or Homyel’ Voblasć (Belarusian: Го́мельская во́бласць, Homielskaja vobłasć, Russian: Гомельская область) is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center is Gomel. The total area of the region is 40,400 square kilometres (15,600 sq mi), the population in 2011 stood at 1,435,000 with the number of inhabitants per km2 at 36.
Important cities within the region include: Gomel, Mazyr, Zhlobin, Svietlahorsk, Rečyca, Kalinkavičy, Rahačoŭ, Dobruš.
Both the Gomel Region and the Mogilev Region suffered severely after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor catastrophe. The Gomel Province borders the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in places, and parts of it is designated as mandatory or voluntary resettlement areas as a result of the radioactive contamination.
Gomel Region comprises 21 rajons (districts) and 2 city municipalities. Raions comprises 278 selsovets, 17 cities and towns.
Сity municipalities: Gomel, Mazyr.
Pripyatsky National Park covers 2% of the territory of the region. Eleven wildlife preserves of national importance cover 2.1% of the region.