Statistical information Russia 1993

Russia in the World
top of pageBackground: The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 broke up the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social political and economic controls of the communist period.
top of pageLocation: Europe/North Asia, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean
Geographic coordinatesMap reference:
Asia, Commonwealth of Independent States - Central Asian
States, Commonwealth of Independent States - European States, Standard Time
Zones of the World
AreaTotal: 17,075,200 km²
Land: 16,995,800 km²
Land boundaries:
total 20,139 km, Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 290 km, Finland 1,313 km,
Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 19 km, Latvia 217 km,
Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 167 km,
Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
Coastline: 37,653 km
Continental shelf: 200 m depth or to depth of exploitation
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Maritime claimsClimate: ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast
Terrain: broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
ElevationNatural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
Land useIrrigated land: 61,590 km² (1990)
Major riversMajor watersheds area km²Total water withdrawalTotal renewable water resourcesNatural hazardsGeographytop of pagePopulation: 149,300,359 (July 1993 est.)
Growth rate: 0.21% (1993 est.)
NationalityNoun: Russian(s)
Adjective: Russian
Ethnic groups:
Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%,
Bashkir 0.9%, Belarusian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1%
Languages: Russian, other
Total population: 100%
Male: 100%
Female: 100%
Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
Demographic profileAge structureDependency ratiosMedian agePopulation growth rate: 0.21% (1993 est.)
Birth rate: 12.73 births/1000 population (1993 est.)
Death rate: 11.32 deaths/1000 population (1993 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.69 migrant(s)/1000 population (1993 est.)
Population distributionUrbanizationMajor urban areasEnvironmentCurrent issues: despite its size, only a small percentage of land is arable and much is too far north for cultivation; permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; catastrophic pollution of land, air, water, including both inland waterways and sea coasts
Current issues note: largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world
Air pollutantsSex ratioMothers mean age at first birthMaternal mortality ratioInfant mortality rate: 27.6 deaths/1000 live births (1993 est.)
Life expectancy at birthTotal population: 68.69 years
Male: 63.59 years
Female: 74.04 years (1993 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.83 children born/woman (1993 est.)
Contraceptive prevalence rateDrinking water sourceCurrent health expenditurePhysicians densityHospital bed densitySanitation facility accessHiv/AidsMajor infectious diseasesObesity adult prevalence rateAlcohol consumptionTobacco useChildren under the age of 5 years underweightEducation expendituresLiteracySchool life expectancy primary to tertiary educationYouth unemploymenttop of pageCountry nameConventional long form: Russian Federation
Conventional short form: Russia
Local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
Local short form: Rossiya
Former: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Government type: federation
Capital: Moscow
Administrative divisions:
21 autonomous republics (avtomnykh respublik, singular - avtomnaya respublika); Adygea (Maykop), Bashkortostan (Ufa),
Buryatia (Ulan-Ude), Chechenia, Chuvashia (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Gorno-Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria (Nal'chik), Kalmykia (Elista), Karachay-Cherkessia (Cherkessk), Karelia (Petrozavodsk), Khakassia (Abakan), Komi (Syktyvkar), Mari El (Yoshkar-Ola),
Mordvinia (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz; formerly Ordzhonikidze),
Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tuva (Kyzyl), Udmurtia (Izhevsk), Yakutia (Yakutsk); 49 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast'); Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk,
Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo,
Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Kemerovo, Kirov,
Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, St. Petersburg (Leningrad), Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow,
Murmansk, Nizhniy Novgorod (formerly Gor'kiy), Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk,
Orel, Orenburg, Penza, Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara (formerly Kuybyshev), Saratov, Smolensk,
Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver' (formerly Kalinin),
Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'; 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray); Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar,
Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
the autonomous republics of Chechenia and Ingushetia were formerly the automous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary between Chechenia and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); the cities of Moscow and St.
Petersburg have oblast status; an administrative division has the same name as its administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses); 4 more administrative divisions may be added
Dependent areasIndependence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) being drafted
National holidayIndependence Day June 12 proreformers:Christian Democratic Party, Aleksandr CHUYEV; Christian
Democratic Union of Russia, Aleksandr OGORODNIKOV; Democratic Russia Movement, pro-government faction, Lev PONOMAREV, Gleb YAKUNIN, Vladimir BOKSER;
Democratic Russia Movement, radical-liberal faction, Yuriy AFANAS'YEV, Marina
SAL'YE; Economic Freedom Party, Konstantin BOROVOY, Svyatoslav FEDOROV; Free
Labor Party, Igor' KOROVIKOV; Party of Constitutional Democrats, Viktor
ZOLOTAREV; Republican Party of Russia, Vladimir LYSENKO, Vyacheslav
SHOSTAKOVSKIY; Russian Democratic Reform Movement, Gavriil POPOV; Social
Democratic Party Boris ORLOV; Social Liberal Party Vladimir FILIN moderate reformers:All-Russian Renewal Union (member Civic Union),
Arkadiy VOL'SKIY, Aleksandr VLADISLAVLEV; Democratic Party of Russia (member
Civic Union), Nikolay TRAVKIN, Valeriy KHOMYAKOV; People's Party of Free
Russia (member Civic Union), Aleksandr RUTSKOY, Vasiliy LIPITSKIY; Russian
Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Arkadiy VOL'SKIY, Aleksandr
VLADISLAVLEV antireformers:Communists and neo-Communists have 7 parties - All-Union
Communist Party of Bolsheviks, Nina ANDREYEVA; Labor Party, Boris
KAGARLITSKIY; Russian Communist Worker's Party, Viktor ANPILOV, Gen. Albert
MAKASHOV; Russian Party of Communists, Anatoliy KRYUCHKOV; Socialist Party of
Working People, Roy MEDVEDEV; Union of Communists, Aleksey PRIGARIN; Working
Russia Movement, Viktor ANPILOV; National Patriots have 6 parties -
Constitutional Democratic Party, Mikhail ASTAF'YEV; Council of People and
Patriotic Forces of Russia, Gennadiy ZYUGANOV; National Salvation Front,
Mikhail ASTAF'YEV, Sergey BABURIN, Vladimir ISAKOV, Il'ya KONSTANTINOV,
Aleksandr STERLIGOV; Russian Christian Democratic Movement, Viktor AKSYUCHITS;
Russian National Assembly, Aleksandr STERLIGOV; Russian National Union, Sergey
BABURIN, Nikolay PAVLOV; extremists have 5 parties - Liberal Democratic Party,
Vladimir ZHIRNOVKSKIY; Nashi Movement, Viktor ALKSNIS; National Republican
Party of Russia, Nikolay LYSENKO; Russian Party, Viktor KORCHAGIN; Russian
National Patriotic Front (Pamyat), Dmitriy VASIL'YEV
ConstitutionLegal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; does not accept compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
International law organization participationCitizenshipSuffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branchLegislative branch: unicameral Congress of People's Deputies, bicameral Supreme Soviet
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, Supreme Court
Political parties and leadersInternational organization participation:
BSEC, CBSS, CCC, CERN (observer), CIS, CSCE, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, IDA, ILO, IMF, IMO, INMARSAT, INTELSAT, INTERPOL,
IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LORCS, MINURSO, NACC, NSG, OAS (observer), PCA,
UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNPROFOR, UN Security Council, UNTAC, UN
Trusteeship Council, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representationIn the us chief of mission: Ambassador Vladimir Petrovich LUKIN
In the us chancery: 1125 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20,036
In the us telephone: (202) 628-7,551 and 8,548
In the us consulates general: New York and San Francisco
From the us chief of mission: (vacant)
From the us embassy: Ulitsa Chaykovskogo 19/21/23, Moscow
From the us mailing address: APO AE 9,721
From the us telephone: 7 (095) 252-2,450 through 2,459
From the us fax: 7 (095) 255-9,965
From the us consulates: St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), Vladivostok
Flag description
: three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
National symbolsNational anthemNational heritagetop of pageEconomy overview: Russia, a vast country with a wealth of natural resources and a diverse industrial base, continues to experience great difficulties in moving from its old centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. President YEL'TSIN's government made significant strides toward a market economy in 1992 by freeing most prices, slashing defense spending, unifying foreign exchange rates, and launching an ambitious privatization program. At the same time, GDP fell 19%, according to official statistics, largely reflecting government following the freeing of prices in January. The actual decline, however, may have been less steep, because industrial and agricultural enterprises had strong incentives to understate output to avoid taxes, and official statistics may not have fully captured the output of the growing private sector. Despite the large drop in output, unemployment at yearend stood at an estimated 3%-4% of Russia's 74-million-person labor force; many people, however, are working shortened weeks or are on forced leave. Moscow's financial stabilization program got off to a good start at the beginning of 1992 but began to falter by midyear. Under pressure from industrialists and the Supreme Soviet, the government loosened fiscal policies in the second half. In addition, the Russian Central Bank relaxed its tight credit policy in July at the behest of new Acting Chairman, Viktor GERASHCHENKO. This loosening of financial policies led to a sharp increase in prices during the last quarter, and inflation reached about 25% per month by yearend. The situation of most consumers worsened in 1992. The January price liberalization and a blossoming of private vendors filled shelves across the country with previously scarce food items and consumer goods, but wages lagged behind inflation, making such goods unaffordable for many consumers. Falling real wages forced most Russians to spend a larger share of their income on food and to alter their eating habits. Indeed, many Russians reduced their consumption of higher priced meat, fish, milk, vegetables, and fruit, in favor of more bread and potatoes. As a result of higher spending on food, consumers reduced their consumption of nonfood goods and services. Despite a slow start and some rough going, the Russian government by the end of 1992 scored some successes in its campaign to break the state's stranglehold on property and improve the environment for private businesses. More peasant farms were created than expected; the number of consumers purchasing goods from private traders rose sharply; the portion of the population working in the private sector increased to nearly one-fifth; and the nine-month-long slump in the privatization of small businesses was ended in the fall. Although the output of weapons fell sharply in 1992, most defense enterprises continued to encounter numerous difficulties developing and marketing consumer products, establishing new supply links, and securing resources for retooling. Indeed, total civil production by the defense sector fell in 1992 because of shortages of inputs and lower consumer demand caused by higher prices. Ruptured ties with former trading partners, output declines, and sometimes erratic efforts to move to world prices and decentralize trade - foreign and interstate - took a heavy toll on Russia's commercial relations with other countries. For the second year in a row, foreign trade was down sharply, with exports falling by as much as 25% and imports by 21%. The drop in imports would have been much greater if foreign aid - worth an estimated $8 billion - had not allowed the continued inflow of essential products. Trade with the other former Soviet republics continued to decline, and support for the ruble as a common currency eroded in the face of Moscow's loose monetary policies and rapidly rising prices throughout the region. At the same time, Russia paid only a fraction of the $20 billion due on the former USSR's roughly $80 billion debt; debt rescheduling remained hung up because of a dispute between Russia and Ukraine over division of the former USSR's assets. Capital flight also remained a serious problem in 1992. Russia's economic difficulties did not abate in the first quarter of 1993. Monthly inflation remained at double-digit levels and industrial production continued to slump. To reduce the threat of hyperinflation, the government proposed to restrict subsidies to enterprises; raise interest rates; set quarterly limits on credits, the budget deficit, and supply growth; and impose temporary taxes and cut spending if budget targets are not met. But many legislators and Central Bank officials oppose various of these austerity measures and failed to approve them in the first part of 1993.
Real gdp purchasing power parityReal gdp growth rateReal gdp per capita: $NA
Gross national savingGdp composition by sector of origin
Gdp composition by end useGdp composition by sector of originAgriculture products: grain, sugar beet, sunflower seeds, meat, milk, vegetables, fruits; because of its northern location does not grow citrus, cotton, tea, and other warm climate products
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; ship- building; 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
Industrial production growth rate: growth rate -19% (1992)
Labor force: 75 million (1993 est.)
By occupation productionandeconomicservices: 83.9%
By occupation government: 16.1%
Unemployment rate: 3%-4% of labor force (1 January 1993 est.)
Youth unemploymentPopulation below poverty lineGini indexHousehold income or consumption by percentage shareDistribution of family income gini indexBudget: revenues $NA; expenditures $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA
Taxes and other revenuesPublic debtRevenueFiscal year: calendar year electric traction; 71,300 km serves specific industry and is not available for common carrier use (31 December 1991)
Inflation rate consumer pricesCentral bank discount rateCommercial bank prime lending rateStock of narrow moneyStock of broad moneyStock of domestic creditMarket value of publicly traded sharesCurrent account balanceExports: $39.2 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodoties: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Partners: Europe
Imports: $35.0 billion (f.o.b., 1992)
Commodoties: machinery and equipment, chemicals, consumer goods, grain, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products
Partners: Europe, North America, Japan, Third World countries, Cuba
Reserves of foreign exchange and goldDebt externalStock of direct foreign investment at homeStock of direct foreign investment abroadExchange rates: rubles per US$1 - 415 (24 December 1992) but subject to wide fluctuations
top of pageElectricityProduction: 213,000,000 KW capacity; 1,014.8 billion kWh produced, 6,824 kWh per capita (1 January 1992)
CoalPetroleumCrude oilRefined petroleumNatural gasCarbon dioxide emissionsEnergy consumption per capitatop of pageTelephonesTelephone systemBroadcast mediaInternetBroadband fixed subscriptionstop of pageMilitary expendituresPercent of gdp: $NA, NA% of GDP
Military and security forcesMilitary service age and obligationSpace programTerrorist groupstop of pageNational air transport systemCivil aircraft registration country code prefixAirports: 2,550
Usable: 964
With permanent surface runways: 565
With runways over 3659 m: 19
With runways 2440-3659 m: 275
With runways 1220-2439 m: 426
HeliportsPipelines: crude oil 72,500 km, petroleum products 10,600 km, natural gas 136,000 km (1992)
RailwaysRoadwaysWaterways: total navigable routes 102,000 km; routes with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet 97,300 km (including illumination and light reflecting guides; routes with other kinds of navigational aids 34,300 km; man-made navigable routes 16,900 km (31 December 1991)
Merchant marine:
865 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 8,073,954
GRT/11,138,336 DWT; includes 457 cargo, 82 container, 3 multi-function large load carrier, 2 barge carrier, 72 roll-on/roll-off, 124 oil tanker, 25 bulk cargo, 9 chemical tanker, 2 specialized tanker, 16 combination ore/oil, 5 passenger cargo, 18 short-sea passenger, 6 passenger, 28 combination bulk, 16 refrigerated cargo
Ports and terminalsRussia - Transnational issues 1993
top of pageDisputes internationalInherited disputes from former USSR including:sections of the boundary with China; boundary with Latvia, Lithuania, and
Estonia; Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan Islands and the Habomai island group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, claimed by Japan; maritime dispute with
Norway over portion of the Barents Sea; has made no territorial claim in
Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation
Refugees and internally displaced personsIllicit drugs: illicit producer of cannabis and opium; mostly for domestic consumption; government has active eradication program; used as transshipment point for illicit drugs to Western Europe