and oil. Refining centers are in Perm, Krasnokamsk and Orsk. Orenburg is the center of gas production and has one of Europe's largest gas condensate deposits. Electricity is provided by a network of thermal and hydroelectric power stations and by the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station. The electrical network is connected to the power grids of the Tyumen and Aktobe regions and the central European parts of Russia. Food and agriculture The food industry of the Ural economic region specializes in producing wheat, meat and dairy, mostly around the major industrial centers. Most fields are located in southern areas. The land division is as follows (all data below are likely from 1970s): arable land 17.8 million hectares, hayfields 2.9 million ha, pastures 7 million hectares. The irrigated area is 128 hectares and 70 thousand hectares are drained. The total sown area is 16.4 million ha, of which 10.9 million ha is used for grains, 4.9 million ha for fodder crops, 0.1 million ha for technical sunflower and flax and 0.5 million ha for potatoes and vegetables. Grains are dominated by the spring wheat (5.7 million hectares). Greenhouse farming is well-developed in this region. Livestock (1980s) was 3,900,000 cattle and 2,300,000 cows, 2,000,000 pigs, 4,600,000 sheep and goats, 34,600,000 items of poultry. Food and closes industries produce flour, meat and dairy, leather and footwear, garment and textile. There is a factory of linen (Sverdlovsk) and plants producing synthetic silk (Orenburg, Chaikovsky). Transport Trains account for most transport in the region with the operational length of railways about 10,000 km. Most important railways are latitudinal, crossing the Central and Southern Ural in six places: Nizhny Tagil – Perm, Sverdlovsk – Perm, Sverdlovsk – Kazan, Chelyabinsk – Ufa, Orsk – Orenburg and Magnitogorsk – West Siberia. Because of the high traffic density, most railways are electrified. The region is crossed by several major pipelines supplying and transporting natural gas from the Tyumen Oblast and Central Asia and oil from Western Siberia. There is industrial navigation on the Kama River. Major cities have local and domestic airports, with the major airline carrier being Ural Airlines. Socio-economic indicators Being one of the most populated areas of Russia, Ural economic region has a large gross domestic product (GDP), mostly due to the urban economic activity. The GDP per capita is above the national average, but the average monthly wages are lower than those in the major central-Russian