Map of Russia | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
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Background: 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.


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Location

Geographic coordinates

Map reference

Area

Land boundaries

Coastline

Maritime claims

Climate

Terrain

Elevation

Natural resources

Land use

Irrigated land

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards

Geography
Note: largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture


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Population: 146,393,569 (July 1999 est.)
Growth rate: -0.33% (1999 est.)
Below poverty line: 28.6% (1998 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Russian(s)
Adjective: Russian

Ethnic groups: Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Byelorussian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1%

Languages: Russian, other

Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 19% (male 14,224,033; female 13,666,440)
15-64 years: 68% (male 48,407,409; female 51,768,664)
65 years and over: 13% (male 5,698,356; female 12,628,667) (1999 est.)

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.33% (1999 est.)

Birth rate: 9.64 births/1000 population (1999 est.)

Death rate: 14.96 deaths/1000 population (1999 est.)

Net migration rate: 2.05 migrant(s)/1000 population (1999 est.)

Population distribution

Urbanization

Major urban areas

Environment
Current issues: air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and sea coasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination
International agreements party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.45 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (1999 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 23 deaths/1000 live births (1999 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 65.12 years
Male: 58.83 years
Female: 71.72 years (1999 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.34 children born/woman (1999 est.)

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access

Hiv/Aids

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 98%
Male: 100%
Female: 97% (1989 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional 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: oblasts (oblastey, singular_oblast'), 21 autonomous republics* (avtonomnyk respublik, singular_avtonomnaya respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs**(avtonomnykh okrugov, singular_avtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays*** (krayev, singular_kray), 2 federal cities (singular_gorod)****, and 1 autonomous oblast*****(avtonomnaya oblast'); Adygeya (Maykop)*, Aginskiy Buryatskiy (Aginskoye)**, Altay (Gorno-Altaysk)*, Altayskiy (Barnaul)***, Amurskaya (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'skaya, Astrakhanskaya, Bashkortostan (Ufa)*, Belgorodskaya, Bryanskaya, Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude)*, Chechnya (Groznyy)*, Chelyabinskaya, Chitinskaya, Chukotskiy (Anadyr')**, Chuvashiya (Cheboksary)*, Dagestan (Makhachkala)*, Evenkiyskiy (Tura)**, Ingushetiya (Nazran')*, Irkutskaya, Ivanovskaya, Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik)*, Kaliningradskaya, Kalmykiya (Elista)*, Kaluzkskaya, Kamchatskaya (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk)*, Kareliya (Petrozavodsk)*, Kemerovskaya, Khabarovskiy***, Khakasiya (Abakan)*, Khanty-Mansiyskiy (Khanty-Mansiysk)**, Kirovskaya, Komi (Syktyvkar)*, Koryakskiy (Palana)**, Kostromskaya, Krasnodarskiy***, Krasnoyarskiy***, Kurganskaya, Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Lipetskaya, Magadanskaya, Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola)*, Mordoviya (Saransk)*, Moskovskaya, Moskva (Moscow)****, Murmanskaya, Nenetskiy (Nar'yan-Mar)**, Nizhegorodskaya, Novgorodskaya, Novosibirskaya, Omskaya, Orenburgskaya, Orlovskaya (Orel), Penzenskaya, Permskaya, Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar)**, Primorskiy (Vladivostok)***, Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya, Ryazanskaya, Sakha (Yakutsk)*, Sakhalinskaya (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samarskaya, Sankt-Peterburg (Saint Petersburg)****, Saratovskaya, Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya (Vladikavkaz)*, Smolenskaya, Stavropol'skiy***, Sverdlovskaya (Yekaterinburg), Tambovskaya, Tatarstan (Kazan')*, Taymyrskiy (Dudinka)**, Tomskaya, Tul'skaya, Tverskaya, Tyumenskaya, Tyva (Kyzyl)*, Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)*, Ul'yanovskaya, Ust'-Ordynskiy Buryatskiy (Ust'-Ordynskiy)**, Vladimirskaya, Volgogradskaya, Vologodskaya, Voronezhskaya, Yamalo-Nenetskiy (Salekhard)**, Yaroslavskaya, Yevreyskaya*****; note_when using a place name with an adjectival ending 'skaya' or 'skiy,' the word Oblast' or Avonomnyy Okrug or Kray should be added to the place name
Note: the autonomous republics of Chechnya and Ingushetiya were formerly the autonomous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary between Chechnya and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

Dependent areas

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day, June 12 (1990)

Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993

Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN (since 12 June 1991)
Head of government: Premier Yevgeniy Maksimovich PRIMAKOV (since 11 September 1998), First Deputy Premiers Yuriy Dmitriyevich MASLYUKOV (since 11 September 1998) and Vadim Anatol'yevich GUSTOV (since 11 September 1998); Deputy Premiers Vladimir Broisovich BULGAK (since 11 September 1998), Gennadiy Vasil'yevich KULIK (since 11 September 1998), and Valentin Ivanovna MATVIYENKO (since 11 September 1998)
Cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and other agency heads; all are appointed by the president
Note: there is also a Presidential Administration (PA) that provides staff and policy support to the president, drafts presidential decrees, and coordinates policy among government agencies; a Security Council also reports directly to the president
Elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 16 June 1996 with runoff election on 3 July 1996 (next to be held NA June 2000); note_no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier and deputy premiers appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
Election results: Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN elected president; percent of vote in runoff_YEL'TSIN 54%, Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV 40%

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federal'noye Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii (178 seats, filled ex-officio by the top executive and legislative officials in each of the 89 federal administrative units_oblasts, krays, republics, autonomous okrugs and oblasts, and the federal cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats, half elected in single-member districts and half elected from national party lists; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)
Elections: State Duma_last held 17 December 1995 (next to be held NA December 1999)
Election results: State Duma_percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats_Communist Party of the Russian Federation 22.3%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 11.2%, Our Home Is Russia 10.1%, Yabloko Bloc 6.9%; seats by party_Communist Party of the Russian Federation 157, independents 78, Our Home Is Russia 55, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 51, Yabloko Bloc 45, Agrarian Party of Russia 20, Russia's Democratic Choice 9, Power To the People 9, Congress of Russian Communities 5, Forward, Russia! 3, Women of Russia 3, other parties 15

Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president; Supreme Court, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president; Superior Court of Arbitration, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president

Political parties and leaders

International organization participation: APEC, BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MONUA, MTCR, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNOMIG, UNOMSIL, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant), ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Yuliy Mikhaylovich VORONTSOV
In the us chancery: 2,650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20,007
In the us telephone: [1] (202) 298-5,700 through 5,704
In the us FAX: [1] (202) 298-5,735
In the us consulates general: New York, San Francisco, and Seattle
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador James F. COLLINS
From the us embassy: Novinskiy Bul'var 19/23, Moscow
From the us mailing address: APO AE 9,721
From the us telephone: [7] (095) 252-24-51 through 59
From the us FAX: [7] (095) 956-42-61
From the us consulates general: St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


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Economy overview: Seven years after the collapse of the USSR, Russia is still struggling to establish a modern market economy and achieve strong economic growth. Russian GDP has contracted an estimated 43% since 1991, including a 5% drop in 1998, despite the country's wealth of natural resources, its well-educated population, and its diverse_although increasingly dilapidated_industrial base. By the end of 1997, Russia had achieved some progress. Inflation had been brought under control, the ruble was stabilized, and an ambitious privatization program had transferred thousands of enterprises to private ownership. Some important market-oriented laws were also passed, including a commercial code governing business relations and an arbitration court for resolving economic disputes. But in 1998, the Asian financial crisis swept through the country, contributing to a sharp decline in russia's earnings from oil exports and resulting in an exodus of foreign investors. Matters came to a head in August 1998 when the government allowed the ruble to fall precipitously and stopped payment on $40 billion in ruble bonds. Ongoing problems include an undeveloped legal and financial system, poor progress on restructuring the military-industrial complex, and persistently large budget deficits, largely reflecting the inability of successive governments to collect sufficient taxes. Russia's transition to a market economy has also been slowed by the growing prevalence of payment arrears and barter and by widespread corruption. The severity of Russia's economic problems is dramatized by the large annual decline in population, estimated by some observers at 800,000 people, caused by environmental hazards, the decline in health care, and the unwillingness of people to have children.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: -5% (1998 est.)

Real gdp per capita ppp

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 7%
Industry: 39%
Services: 54% (1997)

Agriculture products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk

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; 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

Industrial production growth rate: -5.5% (1998 est.)

Labor force: 66 million (1997)
By occupation: NA

Unemployment rate: 11.5% (1998 est.) with considerable additional underemployment

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 28.6% (1998 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Revenues: $40 billion
Expenditures: $63 billion, including capital expenditures of $N/A (1998 est.)

Public debt

Taxes and other revenues

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Current account balance

Inflation rate consumer prices

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares

Current account balance

Exports: $71.8 billion (1998 est.)
Commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Partners: Ukraine, Germany, US, Belarus, other Western and less developed countries

Imports: $58.5 billion (1998 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products
Partners: Europe, North America, Japan, and less developed countries

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $164 billion (yearend 1998)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: rubles per US$1_22.2876 (January 1999), 9.7051 (1998), 5,785 (1997), 5,121 (1996), 4,559 (1995), 2,191 (1994)
Note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles


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Electricity access

Electricity production: 834 billion kWh (1997)
By source fossil fuel: 68.14%
By source hydro: 19%
By source nuclear: 12.82%
By source other: 0.04% (1997)

Electricity consumption: 788.036 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity exports: 24.2 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity imports: 6.6 billion kWh (1996)

Electricity installed generating capacity

Electricity transmission distribution losses

Electricity generation sources

Petroleum

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones fixed lines

Telephones mobile cellular

Telephone system: the telephone system has undergone significant changes in the 1990's; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy
Domestic: cross country digital trunk lines run from St. Petersburg to Khabarovsk, and from Moscow to Novorossiysk; the telephone systems in 60 regional capitals have modern digital infrastructures; cellular services, both analog and digital, are available in many areas; in rural areas, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density
International: Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita

Broadcast media

Internet country code

Internet users

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $NA
Dollar figure note: the Intelligence Community estimates that defense spending in Russia fell by about 10% in real terms in 1996, reducing Russian defense outlays to about one-sixth of peak Soviet levels in the late 1980s (1997 est.)
Percent of gdp: NA%

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 2,517 (1994 est.)
With paved runways total: 630
With paved runways over 3047 m: 54
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 202
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 108
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 115
With paved runways under 914 m: 151 (1994 est.)
With unpaved runways total: 1,887
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 25
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 45
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 134
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 291
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 1,392 (1994 est.)

Airports with paved runways
Total: 630
Over 3047 m: 54
2438 to 3047 m: 202
15-24 to 2437 m: 108
914 to 1523 m: 115
Under 914 m: 151 (1994 est.)

Airports with unpaved runways
Total: 1,887
Over 3047 m: 25
2438 to 3047 m: 45
15-24 to 2437 m: 134
914 to 1523 m: 291
Under 914 m: 1,392 (1994 est.)

Heliports

Pipelines: crude oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural gas 140,000 km (June 1993 est.)

Railways
Total: 150,000 km; note_87,000 km in common carrier service; 63,000 km serve specific industries and are not available for common carrier use
Broad gauge: 150,000 km 1.520-m gauge (January 1997 est.)

Roadways

Waterways: total navigable routes in general use 101,000 km; routes with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet 95,900 km; routes with night navigational aids 60,400 km; man-made navigable routes 16,900 km (January 1994 est.)

Merchant marine
Total: 617 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,146,329 GRT/5,278,909 DWT
Ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 19, cargo 309, combination bulk 21, combination ore/oil 6, container 25, multifunction large-load carrier 1, oil tanker 149, passenger 35, passenger-cargo 3, refrigerated cargo 16, roll-on/roll-off cargo 25, short-sea passenger 7 (1998 est.)

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: dispute over at least two small sections of the boundary with China remain to be settled, despite 1997 boundary agreement; islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan and the Habomai group occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan; Caspian Sea boundaries are not yet determined among Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan; Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical border agreement in December 1996 which has not been ratified; draft treaty delimiting the boundary with Latvia has not been signed; 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; 1997 border agreement with Lithuania not yet ratified; Svalbard is the focus of a maritime boundary dispute in the Barents Sea between Norway and Russia

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of illicit cannabis and opium poppy and producer of amphetamines, mostly for domestic consumption; government has active eradication program; increasingly used as transshipment point for Southwest and Southeast Asian opiates and cannabis and Latin American cocaine to Western Europe, possibly to the US, and growing domestic market