Map of Russia | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide198919901991199219931994199519961997199819992000200120022003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024 | More stats

top of page


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.


top of page


Location: Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is sometimes included with Europe) bordering the Arctic Ocean between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N 100 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Comparative: slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US

Land boundaries

Coastline: 37,653 km

Maritime claims

Climate: 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

Elevation

Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil natural gas coal and many strategic minerals timber

Land use

Irrigated land: 40,000 km² (1993 est.)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands; volcanoes and earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula

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


top of page


Population: 146,001,176 (July 2000 est.)
Growth rate: -0.38% (2000 est.)
Below poverty line: 40% (1999 est.)

Nationality

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

Dependency ratios

Median age

Population growth rate: -0.38% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 9.02 births/1000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 13.8 deaths/1000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 1.02 migrant(s)/1000 population (2000 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; ground water contamination from toxic waste

Air pollutants

Sex ratio

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate: 20.33 deaths/1000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

Total fertility rate: 1.25 children born/woman (2000 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

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


top of page


Country name

Government type: federation

Capital: Moscow

Administrative divisions: 49 oblasts (oblastey singular - oblast) 21 republics* (respublik singular - 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)* Kaluzhskaya 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

Dependent areas

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)

National holiday: Independence Day 12 June (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

Legislative branch: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye 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 Saint Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats half elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 5% of the vote and half from single-member constituencies; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)

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: Agro-industrial faction [leader NA]; Communist Party of the Russian Federation or KPRF [Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV]; Fatherland-All Russia or OVR [Yevgeniy Maksimovich PRIMAKOV Yuriy Mikhailovich LUZHKOV]; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia [Vladimir Volfovich ZHIRINOVSKIY]; People's Deputies faction [leader NA]; Russia's Regions [leader NA]; Union of Right Forces [Sergey Vladilenovich KIRIYENKO]; Unity [Sergey Kuzhugetovich SHOYGU]; Yabloko Bloc [Grigoriy Alekseyevich YAVLINSKIY]

International organization participation: APEC BIS BSEC CBSS CCC CE CERN (observer) CIS EAPC EBRD ECE ESCAP G- 8 IAEA IBRD ICAO ICRM IDA IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO Inmarsat Intelsat Interpol IOC IOM (observer) ISO ITU LAIA (observer) MINURSO MONUC NAM (guest) NSG OAS (observer) OPCW OSCE PCA PFP UN UN Security Council UNAMSIL UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNIKOM UNITAR UNMIBH UNMIK UNMOP UNOMIG UNTAET UNTSO UPU WFTU WHO WIPO WMO WToO WTrO (applicant) ZC

Diplomatic representation

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

National symbols

National anthem

National heritage


top of page


Economy overview: Nine 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 45% since 1991 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 had also been passed including a commercial code governing business relations and the establishment of 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. In 1999 output increased for only the second time since 1991 by an officially estimated 3.2% regaining much of the 4.6% drop of 1998. This increase was achieved despite a year of potential turmoil that included the tenure of three premiers and culminated in the New Year's Eve resignation of President YELTSIN. Of great help was the tripling of international oil prices in the second half of 1999 raising the export surplus to $29 billion. On the negative side inflation rose to an average 86% in 1999 compared with a 28% average in 1998 and a hoped-for 30% average in 2000. Ordinary persons found their wages falling by roughly 30% and their pensions by 45%. The PUTIN government has given high priority to supplementing low incomes by paying down wage and pension arrears. Many investors both domestic and international remain on the sidelines scared off by Russia's long-standing problems with capital flight reliance on barter transactions widespread corruption among officials and endemic organized crime.

Real gdp purchasing power parity

Real gdp growth rate: 3.2% (1999 est.)

Real gdp per capita: purchasing power parity - $4,200 (1999 est.)

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin

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: 8.1% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 66 million (1997)
By occupation agriculture: 15%
By occupation industry: 30%
By occupation services: 55% (1999 est.)

Unemployment rate: 12.4% (1999 est.) plus considerable underemployment

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 40% (1999 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget

Taxes and other revenues

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 86% (1999 est.)

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: $75.4 billion (1999 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 Netherlands China

Imports: $48.2 billion (1999 est.)
Commodities: machinery and equipment consumer goods medicines meat grain sugar semifinished metal products
Partners: Germany Belarus Ukraine US Kazakhstan Italy

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $166 billion (yearend 1999)

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates: rubles per US$1 - 26.7996 (December 1999) 24.6199 (1999) 9.7051 (1998) 5,785 (1997) 5,121 (1996) 4,559 (1995)


top of page


Electricity
Production: 771.947 billion kWh (1998)
Consumption: 702.711 billion kWh (1998)
Exports: 21 billion kWh (1998)
Imports: 5.8 billion kWh (1998)

Coal

Petroleum

Crude oil

Refined petroleum

Natural gas

Carbon dioxide emissions

Energy consumption per capita


top of page


Telephones
Main lines in use: 25.019 million (1995)
Mobile cellular: 645,000 (1999)

Telephone system: the telephone system has undergone significant changes in the 1990s; there are more than 1000 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

Broadcast media

Internet
Service providers isps: 83 (Russia and Kazakhstan) (1999)

Broadband fixed subscriptions


top of page


Military expenditures
Dollar figure: $N/A
Percent of gdp: NA%

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


top of page


National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 2,517 (1994 est.)

Heliports

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

Railways

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

Ports and terminals


top of page


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

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; major source of heroin precursor chemicals