Murmansk Oblast – established in 1938. The area is 144.9 thousand km². The population is 762 thousand (2016), city population is 92 %. The regional center is Murmansk (founded in 1916, until 1917 known as Romanov-on-Murman). The city is part of the Northwestern Federal District of Russia. It borders on Finland (approx. 350 km) and Norway (196 km) in the west, in the south it borders on the Republic of Karelia, Russia. The legislative (representative) body of the state power is the Murmansk Oblast Duma. The Oblast consists of: Murmansk, 5 districts, 6 cities with jurisdiction over territories, and 5 Closed Administrative-Territorial Formations (ZATO).

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M.O. is located on the Kola Peninsula and the adjacent part of the mainland; it is washed by the White Sea and the Barents Sea. Almost all of the territory of the M.O. is located above the Arctic Circle. The Khibiny Mountains (hight up to 1191 m) and Lovozero tundra (up to 1120 m) are situated there. The relief is glacial. The main rivers are: the Tuloma River, the Varzuga River, the Umba River, the Niva, and the Ponoy. Vast lakes of tectonic and glacial origin in the region are: Imandra Lake, Kovdozero Lake, Umbozero Lake, Lovozero Lake, and others. The climate is relatively mild (the influence of the warm North Atlantic Current): the average temperatures in January are −8 to −13 °C in the north (the central part); in July they are 8 °C and 14 °C, respectively; precipitation is 350–400 mm per year, up to 1000 mm per year in the mountains. The region is covered by moss-lichen tundra (the coast of the Barents Sea), tundra, and taiga. There is vertical zonation in the mountains. There are swamps in the region. Soil types include tundra, bog, and podzolic. About 36 % of the territory is covered by forests. Within the borders of M.O. there are 32 species of mammals and approx. 250 species of birds. The Lapland Nature Reserve in Monchegorsk area covers an area of 161 thousand hectares (since 1930); the Kandalaksha Reserve on the islands of the White and Barents seas covers 70.5 thousand hectares (since 1932).

The leading industries are: nonferrous metal production, the fishing industry, the wood-working industry, and ship repair industry. In 1985, the rich Shtokman Field (gas condensate) was discovered on the shelf of the Barents Sea. Hydropower plants are located on the rivers Tuloma, Kovda, Paz, and Voronya. Russia’s only tidal power station is located in the Kislaya Guba (near Murmansk) (constructed in 1968). Kola Nuclear Power Plant (started operating in 1973) is situated in the town of Polyarnye Zori. A unique scientific experiment was conduted on the Kola Peninsula – the deepest borehole in the world (12,260 m) was drilled near town Zapolyarny (listed in the Guinness Book of Records). The mining and processing of iron ore is done in Olenegorsky (1955) and Kovdorsky (1962) ore dressing plants. The ores mainly go on to the Cherepovets Steel Mill. Copper-nickel ores are extracted in Pechenga; apatite-nepheline ores – in Khibiny deposits (the richest material base of raw phosphate in Russia; nepheline is the raw material for aluminum production), in Kirovsk and Apatity; ores of rare earth metals are found in the east. The only kyanite field in the Russian Federation (raw material for the production of aluminum-silicon alloys and precious refractory materials). Mica is mined in Kovdor. Aluminum is produced in Kandalaksha, nickel and copper – in Monchegorsk, in Zapolyarnyi (nickel). Shipbuilding and ship repair industry are developed in Murmansk.

Agricultural lands are small – 0.2 % of the territory. The polar type of farming is developed. Local crops of potatoes and vegetables are grown. There is greenhouse farming, reindeer breeding, and dairy cattle-breeding. Fishing industry is developed in rivers and lakes, in the Barents Sea, and in the oceans. The fishing industry includes fishing (1/7 of all the catch in the Russian Federation) and fish processing (approx. 1/10 of the production of canned fish). The Volkhov Railroad (the Leningrad Oblast) goes from Petrozavodsk to Murmansk. There is a highway from St.-Petersburg to Murmansk. Murmansk is the largest ice-free port of the Russian Federation (oil exports, chemical products, ores) with geopolitical importance, due to the collapse of the USSR (the ports in the Baltic States are now difficult to use); the base of the world’s only nuclear icebreaker fleet. M.O. is the start of the Northern Sea Route. The ports on the White Sea include: Kandalaksha (ores) and Vitino (oil terminal). There are spa facilities and recreation in M.O. Winter sports tourism is developed in Kirovsk; there are fishing tours.