The five millionth resident of St. Petersburg was born this weekend, on September 22, the city's governor Georgy Poltavchenko reports. 

      The girl was born at 3:40 a.m. Moscow time in the family Olga and Sergei Sharkovs. Parents named their newborn daughter Lyudmila, she is the fourth children in the family. Her mother is a manager at a building company and father heads the IT department at a design bureau.

      The happy father of the five millionth St. Petersburg citizen was allowed to fire the cannon at the Peter and Paul fortress (the old citadel built by Emperor Peter the Great) to celebrate the girl’s birth, according to Georgy Poltavchenko. The governor also promised to present the big family with a four-bedroom apartment.

      About 179 children were born at night of September 22: 124 of them were born in families of St. Petersburg citizens, the other children - in families of visitors and people from other regions. The choice of the five millionth resident was made according to time of birth fixing in all maternity hospitals of the city. 

      In 1988 the St. Petersburg population size already reached the mark of five millions, but since then mortality rates always exceeded fertility rates. The previous five millionth resident in the city, Pavel Rusakov, has already graduated from the University and made a family. He has also joined celebrations of the second five millionth citizen in the St. Petersburg's history.