Nizhny Novgorod
Economy

Since the reign of Emperor Alexander III, Nizhny Novgorod has become the centre of all-Russian merchants. On 15 July 1822 the largest Nizhny Novgorod fair was solemnly opened on the left bank of the Oka. Then Nizhny Novgorod became the main city of all-Russian and international trade. In 1929, the Fair was closed, and the city's economy began to develop in a completely different direction.

The Soviet city of Gorky became one of the largest industrial centres in Russia, the leading role in which belonged to the enterprises of mechanical engineering, metalworking and information technology. At the same time, the first auto giant, the Gorky Automobile Plant, was built.

The very foundation of the city at the confluence of two navigable rivers predetermined both its military-strategic and commercial significance. Local merchants traded not only with Moscow, Kazan, Yaroslavl, Astrakhan, but also with the cities of Europe and Central Asia. In May 1767, during the royal visit of Empress Catherine II, she ordered the creation of a new enterprise, the Nizhny Novgorod Trading Company.

The main factor in the formation of Nizhny Novgorod as the main trading centre of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century was the transfer here in 1817 of the Makariev Fair.

At the expense of the treasury, under the general project and under the leadership of Augustine de Betancourt, the largest guest complex in Europe was created. At the stage before 1822, the Cathedral of the Savior was built according to the project of Auguste de Montferrand, 3 administrative, 4 “Chinese” wooden and 56 brick buildings with thousands of shops, hotels, taverns and a summer theatre. For the first time in Europe, sewerage was provided here. At the second stage, the complex of the Cathedral of the Savior was completed, a mosque and an Armenian-Gregorian church were built. The third stage marked a strict rectangular redevelopment of the fair with the paving of all streets, the creation of a number of new places of worship, including the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, a three-story commercial building, called the Persian Caravanserai, was erected near the mosque. The fourth stage was the last in a series of reconstructions and included: the construction of the stone circus of the Nikitin brothers, the Brazilian passage on theatre Square, the new Main Fair House in the Russian style, which became one of the largest passages of the Russian Empire.

The current Nizhny Novgorod fair is an interactive museum. The inauguration of the governor and various official events are held in the armorial hall.

Currently, trade in Nizhny Novgorod is represented mainly by its retail sector. In the 1990s, Belinsky Street was actively built up with shopping centres. In the mid-2000s, three shopping centres were built on the territory of Old Kanavino near the Railway Station, on Revolution Square. In 2008, in the very centre of Nizhny Novgorod, near the historical quarter known as the Black Pond, the Lobachevsky Plaza business centre was built, which was recognized as one of the best architectural projects of 2009.

In January 2019, Nizhny Novgorod was recognized as the best city in Russia in terms of quality of life. It took first place among Russian cities and 109th in the world in terms of quality of life. The rating was compiled by the website numbeo.com, which specializes in statistics on the cost of living and consumer prices in different countries of the world. When compiling the rating, the purchasing power of the population, safety, health care, the cost of living, the ratio of real estate prices and incomes of the population, traffic congestion, the level of environmental pollution, and climate were taken into account.

In 2022, the average nominal salary in Nizhny Novgorod, according to Federal State Statistics Service, was 45,795 rubles.
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