Sverdlovsk Oblast

Sverdlovsk Oblast anchors Russia's Urals industrial spine—a metallurgical ecosystem that produces 12% of national iron and steel, along with copper, aluminum, nickel, and the world's second-largest titanium works (VSMPO at Verkhnaya Salda). Yekaterinburg, the capital, ranks third in Russian economic output after Moscow and Saint Petersburg, appearing on the City-600 list of urban economies producing 60% of global GDP. Industrial output places second only to Moscow Oblast, contributing 5% of Russia's total.

The region exemplifies path dependence from Soviet industrialization. Major enterprises—Uralmash (heavy machinery since the 1930s), UralVagonZavod (tanks and railcars), Nizhny Tagil Metallurgical Complex (EVRAZ steel)—were sited to exploit Urals mineral deposits: iron, copper, manganese, and rare metals. Export composition reflects this concentration: steel (20% of foreign trade), chemicals (11%), copper (11%), aluminum (8%), titanium (3%). Machine building serves mining, oil extraction, and energy sectors; Uralmash alone produces up to 36 drilling rigs annually.

The 2022-2025 conflict exposed vulnerabilities in this intensive-labor model. Mobilization reduced the working-age male population by an estimated 5% in industrial areas, creating labor shortages exceeding 60,000 in key sectors and net annual population outflows of -0.7% as of 2025. Metallurgy requires workers; losing them to frontline service strains production at precisely the moment defense orders peak. The region now competes with other Russian industrial centers for remaining labor while machinery factories run below capacity—a stress test revealing limits of the Soviet-inherited model.