The Samara Oblast is situated in the middle flow of the River Volga. Near the old Zhiguli Mountains the river makes a steep turn bending round the Samarskaya Luka – natural reserve, which is unique by its nature. The Samara Oblast is a forest-steppe region.

The Samara Oblast economics sectors are represented virtually by all key branches: mining operations and processing of semi-products, production of electric power, chemistry and petroleum chemistry, metallurgy, mechanical engineering (including motor-car construction), manufacturing of bearings for machines, aircraft building and production of space ships and vehicles, light and food industries.

The Samara Oblast accounts for 1/5 of all production of synthetic rubber in Russia, for 10% of petrochemical products, for about 23% of synthetic ammonia, for 10% of pesticides, for 5% of synthetic resins and plastic materials, and 4.6% for mineral fertilizers. Samara is the only region where yellow phosphorus is produced. The Volzhsky Automobile Plant, which manufactures “Lada” cars enjoying high demand with the public, accounts for over 75% of all cars made in Russia. Share of the foreign trade turnover in the gross regional product is 35%, while export exceeds import. In the course of 10 years the number of enterprises with foreign capital participation increased 10-fold; and foreign investments grew more than 25-fold.

The agro-industrial complex of the Samara Oblast is a developed sector, which unites 500 agricultural enterprises of different ownership formats, 3,500 private farms, and over 1,000 enterprises of food and processing industries, as well as technical maintenance stations servicing agricultural machinery. The total area of agricultural land makes up 3,9 mln ha.

According to international expert opinion, the Samara Oblast takes the 5th place among 89 regions of the Russian Federation as for human potential. The amount of consumer expenditures the Samara Oblast yield only to the Moscow Oblast.

Over 30 state-run and non-governmental universities, 1,368 state-run elementary and secondary schools and Lyceums, 22 non-governmental schools of general education – all these educational institutions operate in the Oblast. The research-and-technical and technological potential is significant; over 60 organizations are involved in exact sciences and applied sciences, in R&D. The Oblast hosts over 100 theatres – state-run, municipal, private, folk and amateur. The Samara Oblast is a cultural center representing works of Russian and Oriental art, pieces of art executed by avant-gardism artists, sculptors, etc.