Meet the Newly Appointed Acting Governor of Jewish Autonomous Region, Rostislav Goldstein

President Putin and Acting Gov. Rostislav Goldstein

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a working meeting with Rostislav Goldstein, who was appointed Acting Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region by a Presidential Executive Order.

President Putin, according to  a Kremlin source accepted the resignation of the Jewish Autonomous Region Governor Alexander Levintal, and appointed Rostislav Goldstein Acting Governor of the Jewish Autonomous Region until an elected governor takes office.

President Putin and Acting Gov. Rostislav Goldstein

Rostislav Goldstein

According to Archworldys, Jewish Autonomous Oblast is in 58th place (out of all 85 regions) in terms of the absolute level of average per capital income: people live there on average by 23.8 thousand rubles. per month, follows from Rosstat data for 2018. The ratio of income and living wage in the region is at the level of about 185.2% (in Russia as a whole – 320.9%).

The cost of living in the region is 12.8 thousand rubles, and a quarter of the inhabitants of Jewish Autonomous Oblast (24.6%) live on incomes below the poverty line established in the region. The poverty rate in Jewish Autonomous Region is one of the highest in the country. In Russia as a whole, the poverty level in 2018 amounted to 12.9% of the population.

As of January 1, 2019, about 159.9 thousand people live in the Jewish Autonomous Region, and the demographic situation remains difficult. Fertility is declining (in January-August 2019, the number of births decreased by 4%), while mortality is increasing (+ 0.3%), which is why the population is naturally decreasing (over eight months of this year it amounted to 330 people).