Jewish Autonomous Oblast

The Jewish Autonomous Oblast (JAO) is a <a href="/facts/Federal_subjects_of_Russia/f2oIKgbo">federal subject</a> of <a href="/facts/Russia/jfkCwyxn">Russia</a> in the <a href="/facts/Russian_Far_East/BT7sYGTP">far east</a> of the country, bordering <a href="/facts/Khabarovsk_Krai/jx4uU4RM">Khabarovsk Krai</a> and <a href="/facts/Amur_Oblast/MMCNQzXH">Amur Oblast</a> in Russia and <a href="/facts/Heilongjiang/lCa5cxw7">Heilongjiang</a> province in <a href="/facts/China/lTjIXY5p">China</a>. Its <a href="/facts/Administrative_center/jyz1zfzk">administrative center</a> is the <a href="/facts/Types_of_inhabited_localities_in_Russia/jsrpqXhI">town</a> of <a href="/facts/Birobidzhan/Il1M1cfJ">Birobidzhan</a>.
The JAO was designated by a Soviet official decree in 1928, and officially established in 1934. At its height, in the late 1940s, the <a href="/facts/Jews/T9Y4wE6A">Jewish</a> population in the region peaked around 46,000–50,000, approximately 25% of its Jewish population in Russia. Since then the share of Jews steadily declined, and according to the <a href="/facts/2021_Russian_census/qzWKtDRl">2021 Russian census</a>, there were only 837 ethnic Jews left in the JAO (0.6%).
Article 65 of the <a href="/facts/Constitution_of_Russia/rqSMrjB7">Constitution of Russia</a> provides that the JAO is Russia's only <a href="/facts/Autonomous_oblasts_of_Russia/f2oIKgbo">autonomous oblast</a>. It is one of two officially Jewish jurisdictions in the world, the other being <a href="/facts/Israel/dEe3IcaY">Israel</a>. It is one of the few places in the world where <a href="/facts/Yiddish/VfmsR6pW">Yiddish</a> is a recognized <a href="/facts/Minority_language/jN1xCGGb">minority language</a>.

Jewish Autonomous Oblast open-in-new

Jewish Autonomous Oblast