Russia

Facts & Figures

Map of Russia
  • President: Vladimir Putin (2012)

    Prime Minister: Mikhail Mishustin (2020)

    Land area: 494,208,000 sq mi (16,377,742 sq km) total area: 496,223,000 sq mi (17,098,242 sq km)

    Population (2022 est.): 146,039,519 (growth rate: –0.08%); birth rate: 11/1000; infant mortality rate: 6.8/1000; life expectancy: 73; density per sq mi: 21.5

    Capital and largest city (2018 est.): Moscow, 12.41 million

    Other large cities: St. Petersburg, 5.383 million; Novosibirsk, 1.636 million; Yekaterinburg, 1.482 million; Nizhny Novgorod, 1.264 million; Samara, 1.164 million

    Monetary unit: Russian ruble (RUR)

    National name: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya

    Current government officials

    Languages: Russian (official) 96.3%, Dolgang 5.3%, German 1.5%, Chechen 1%, Tatar 3%, other 10.3% (2010 est.)

    Ethnicity/race: Russian 77.7%, Tatar 3.7%, Ukrainian 1.4%, Bashkir 1.1%, Chuvash 1%, Chechen 1%, other 10.2%, unspecified 3.9% (2010)

    Religions: Russian Orthodox 15%–20%, other Christian 2%, Islam 10%–15% (2006 est.; includes practicing worshippers only)

    Literacy rate: 99.7% (2015 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2020 est.): $4 trillion; per capita $26,500. Real growth rate: 1.34%. Inflation: 4.4%. Unemployment: 4.6%. Arable land: 7.11%. Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk. Labor force: 69.923 million; agriculture 9.4%, industry 27.6%, services 63% (2016 est.). Industries: complete range of mining and extractive industries producing coal, oil, gas, chemicals, and metals; all forms of machine building from rolling mills to high-performance aircraft and space vehicles; defense industries including radar, missile production, and advanced electronic components, shipbuilding; road and rail transportation equipment; communications equipment; agricultural machinery, tractors, and construction equipment; electric power generating and transmitting equipment; medical and scientific instruments; consumer durables, textiles, foodstuffs, handicrafts. Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, reserves of rare earth elements, timber; note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources. Exports: $379.12 billion (2020 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures. Imports: $304.68 billion (2020 est.): machinery, vehicles, pharmaceutical products, plastic, semi-finished metal products, meat, fruits and nuts, optical and medical instruments, iron, steel. Major trading partners: China, Germany, Belarus (2019).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 25.89 million (2020); mobile cellular: 238.73 million (2020). Radio broadcast stations: AM 323, FM 1,500 est., shortwave 62 (2004). Radios: 61.5 million (1997). Television broadcast stations: 5,700 (2007). Televisions: 60.5 million (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 33.893 million (2020). Internet users: 122.488 million (2020).

    Transportation: Railways: total: 87,157 km (2012). Highways: total: 1,283,387 km paved: 927,721 km (includes 39,143 km of expressways) unpaved: 355,666 km note: includes public and departmental roads (2012). Waterways: Waterways 102,000 km (including 33,000 km with guaranteed depth) note: 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Azov, and Black Sea (2009). Ports and harbors: Aleksandrovsk-Sakhalinsky, Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', De-Kastri, Indigirskiy, Kaliningrad, Kandalaksha, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Lazarev, Mago, Mezen', Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Onega, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, Rostov, Shakhtersk, Saint Petersburg, Sochi, Taganrog, Tuapse, Uglegorsk, Vanino, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg. Airports: 1,218 (2013).

    International disputes: Russia remains concerned about the smuggling of poppy derivatives from Afghanistan through Central Asian countries; China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border disputes; the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia's military support and subsequent recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia independence in 2008 continue to sour relations with Georgia; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia ratified Caspian seabed delimitation treaties based on equidistance, while Iran continues to insist on a one-fifth slice of the sea; Norway and Russia signed a comprehensive maritime boundary agreement in 2010; various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following World War II but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; Russia and Estonia signed a technical border agreement in May 2005, but Russia recalled its signature in June 2005 after the Estonian parliament added to its domestic ratification act a historical preamble referencing the Soviet occupation and Estonia's pre-war borders under the 1920 Treaty of Tartu; Russia contends that the preamble allows Estonia to make territorial claims on Russia in the future, while Estonian officials deny that the preamble has any legal impact on the treaty text; Russia demands better treatment of the Russian-speaking population in Estonia and Latvia; Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with an EU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply; preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov is suspended due to the occupation of Crimea by Russia; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005 and field demarcation should commence in 2007; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US; Denmark (Greenland) and Norway have made submissions to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental shelf (CLCS) and Russia is collecting additional data to augment its 2001 CLCS submission

    Major sources and definitions

    Rulers of Russia Since 1533

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