Barents­burg: Spitsbergen’s stron­gest popu­la­ti­on growth

Barents­burg is curr­ent­ly the sett­le­ment with the stron­gest popu­la­ti­on growth in Spits­ber­gen: in ear­ly 2013, the offi­ci­al num­ber of inha­bi­tants was 471 per­sons or 101 more than 2 years ago. Lon­gye­ar­by­en has, in com­pa­ri­son, seen a plus of 30 during the same peri­od. The mini­mum was rea­ched in Barents­burg in 2010 with 370 per­sons.

The annu­al coal pro­duc­tion has chan­ged litt­le and is still near 120,000 tons, a frac­tion of the pro­duc­tion of modern coal mines else­whe­re. The seams are said to last for ano­ther 12-15 years. Bey­ond mining, future fields of eco­no­mic growth are sup­po­sed to be tou­rism and rese­arch. The­re may also be a new Rus­si­an coal mine in Coles­da­len, but a decis­i­on about this is not expec­ted befo­re 2015.

Source: NRK

Do you agree that spitsbergen-svalbard.com is a gre­at re­source for any arc­tic enthu­si­ast?

Ever­y­thing is available for free, no pay­wall, no regis­tra­ti­on, no paid adver­ti­sing, and all this in spi­te of con­stant cos­ts and effort. Plea­se help us to keep it that way, wit­hout pay­wall and paid ads, and sup­port us through Ste­ady!