In its first year, the Arctic Hectare program provided about 2,000 plots of land and has about 600 more agreements to grant land at the signing stage. In total, residents of the Arctic regions have submitted more than 4,500 applications for free land plots.

"The Murmansk Region continues to receive the most applications for Arctic hectares. A year after the program launched, people have filed 4,500 applications and have already received 2,000 plots, with 600 plots of land at the agreement signing stage. Nearly 400 applications have been submitted by residents of other regions, which became possible on February 1. The key task for us is to integrate the program with other projects, with the Governor's Startup, with the program My Home in the Arctic, and combine it with the development of roadside services and tourism," said Murmansk Region Governor Andrei Chibis.

The region put a total of 731,000 hectares, or 5.04 percent of its territory, up for grabs under the Arctic Hectare. When allocating the plots, the authorities took due account of the land’s proximity to settlements, as well as the availability of roads or access ways.

Most applicants are northerners, but on February 1, residents of other regions became eligible to join the program: people from Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Moscow and Leningrad regions and many other Russian regions have already applied for hectares in the Murmansk Region. About 100 applications are filed every month. Nearly 300 people have indicated that they need the land for individual housing construction, gardening or smallholdings. About 40 applicants plan to open a hotel business, and 52 people intend to engage in other types of business.