Map of Russia | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background:


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Location: North Asia bordering the Arctic Ocean extending from Europe (the portion west of the Urals) to the North Pacific Ocean

Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N 100 00 E

Map reference: Asia

Area
Total: 17,098,242 km²
Land: 16,377,742 km²
Water: 720,500 km²
Rank: 1
Comparative: approximately 1.8 times the size of the US

Land boundaries
Total: 22,408 km
Border countries: (14) Azerbaijan 338 km; Belarus 1312 km; China (southeast) 4,133 km; China (south) 46 km; Estonia 324 km; Finland 1309 km; Georgia 894 km; Kazakhstan 7,644 km; North Korea 18 km; Latvia 332 km; Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 261 km; Mongolia 3,452 km; Norway 191 km; Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 210 km; Ukraine 1944 km

Coastline: 37,653 km

Maritime claims
Territorial sea: 12 nm
Contiguous zone: 24 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation

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
Mean elevation: 600 m
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m: highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m (highest point in Europe)

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

Land use
Agricultural land: 13.1%
Forest: 49.4%
Other: 37.5%

Irrigated land: 43,000 km² (2012)

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; spring floods and summer/autumn forest fires throughout Siberia and parts of European Russia
Volcanism: significant volcanic activity on the Kamchatka Peninsula and Kuril Islands; the peninsula alone is home to some 29 historically active volcanoes with dozens more in the Kuril Islands; Kliuchevskoi which erupted in 2007 and 2010 is Kamchatka's most active volcano; Avachinsky and Koryaksky volcanoes which pose a threat to the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky have been deemed Decade Volcanoes by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior worthy of study due to their explosive history and close proximity to human populations; other notable historically active volcanoes include Bezymianny Chikurachki Ebeko Gorely Grozny Karymsky Ketoi Kronotsky Ksudach Medvezhia Mutnovsky Sarychev Peak Shiveluch Tiatia Tolbachik and Zheltovsky

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; Mount El'brus is Europe's tallest peak; Lake Baikal the deepest lake in the world is estimated to hold one fifth of the world's fresh water


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Population
Distribution: population is heavily concentrated in the westernmost fifth of the country extending from the Baltic Sea south to the Caspian Sea and eastward parallel to the Kazakh border; elsewhere sizeable pockets are isolated and generally found in the south: 142,355,415 (July 2016 est.)
Rank: 10
Growth rate: -0.06% (2016 est.)
Growth rate rank: 207
Below poverty line: 11.2% (2014 est.)

Nationality
Noun: Russian
Adjective: Russian

Ethnic groups: Russian 77.7% Tatar 3.7% Ukrainian 1.4% Bashkir 1.1% Chuvash 1% Chechen 1% other 10.2% unspecified 3.9%
Note: nearly 200 national and/or ethnic groups are represented in Russia's 2010 census

Languages: Russian (official) 85.7% Tatar 3.2% Chechen 1% other 10.1%
Note: data represent native language spoken

Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20% Muslim 10-15% other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
Note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule; Russia officially recognizes Orthodox Christianity Islam Judaism and Buddhism as traditional religions

Demographic profile

Age structure
0-14 years: 16.94%
15-24 years: 9.71%
25-54 years: 45.16%
55-64 years: 14.27%
65 years and over: 13.92% (2016 est.)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 43.1%
Youth dependency ratio: 24%
Elderly dependency ratio: 19.1%
Potential support ratio: 5.2%

Median age
Total: 39.3 years
Male: 36.4 years
Female: 42.3 years
Rank: 53

Population growth rate: -0.06% (2016 est.)
Rank: 207

Birth rate: 11.3 births/1000 population (2016 est.)
Rank: 174

Death rate: 13.6 deaths/1000 population (2016 est.)
Rank: 10

Net migration rate: 1.7 migrant(s)/1000 population (2016 est.)
Rank: 52

Population distribution: population is heavily concentrated in the westernmost fifth of the country extending from the Baltic Sea south to the Caspian Sea and eastward parallel to the Kazakh border; elsewhere sizeable pockets are isolated and generally found in the south

Urbanization
Urban population: 74% of total population
Rate of urbanization: -0.13% annual rate of change

Major urban areas
Population: MOSCOW (capital) 12.166 million; Saint Petersburg 4.993 million; Novosibirsk 1.497 million; Yekaterinburg 1.379 million; Nizhniy Novgorod 1.212 million; Samara 1.164 million (2015)

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 seacoasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; groundwater contamination from toxic waste; urban solid waste management; abandoned stocks of obsolete pesticides
International agreements party to: Air Pollution Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides Air Pollution-Sulfur 85 Antarctic-Environmental Protocol Antarctic-Marine Living Resources Antarctic Seals Antarctic Treaty Biodiversity Climate Change Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol Desertification Endangered Species Environmental Modification Hazardous Wastes Law of the Sea Marine Dumping Ozone Layer Protection Ship Pollution Tropical Timber 83 Wetlands Whaling
International agreements signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulfur 94

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male/female
0-14 years: 1.06 male/female
15-24 years: 1.05 male/female
25-54 years: 0.96 male/female
55-64 years: 0.75 male/female
65 years and over: 0.45 male/female
Total population: 0.86 male/female

Mothers mean age at first birth: 24.6 (2009 est.)

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Total: 6.9 deaths/1000 live births
Male: 7.7 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 6 deaths/1000 live births
Rank: 161

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 70.8 years
Male: 65 years
Female: 76.8 years
Rank: 153

Total fertility rate: 1.61 children born/woman (2016 est.)
Rank: 179

Contraceptive prevalence rate: 68%
Note: percent of women aged 15-44

Drinking water source:

Current health expenditure

Physicians density: 4.31 physicians/1000 population (2006)

Hospital bed density: 9.7 beds/1000 population (2006)

Sanitation facility access:

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: NA
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Major infectious diseases
Degree of risk: intermediate
Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea
Vectorborne disease: tickborne encephalitis

Obesity adult prevalence rate: 26.2% (2014)
Rank: 46

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures: 4.2% of GDP (2012)
Rank: 110

Literacy
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Total population: 99.7%
Male: 99.7%
Female: 99.6%

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education
Total: 15 years
Male: 15 years
Female: 15 years

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 Empire Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Etymology: Russian lands were generally referred to as Muscovy until PETER I officially declared the Russian Empire in 1721; the new name sought to invoke the patrimony of the medieval eastern European Rus state centered on Kyiv in present-day Ukraine; the Rus were a Varangian elite that imposed their rule and eventually their name on their Slavic subjects

Government type: semi-presidential federation

Capital
Name: Moscow
Geographic coordinates: 55 45 N 37 36 E
Time difference: UTC+3
Note: Russia has 11 time zones the largest number of contiguous time zones of any country in the world; in 2014 two time zones were added and DST was dropped

Administrative divisions: 46 provinces (oblastey singular - oblast) 21 republics (respublik singular - respublika) 4 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov singular - avtonomnyy okrug) 9 krays (krayev singular - kray) 2 federal cities (goroda singular - gorod) and 1 autonomous oblast (avtonomnaya oblast')
Oblasts: Amur Arkhangel'sk Astrakhan' Belgorod Bryansk Chelyabinsk Irkutsk Ivanovo Kaliningrad Kaluga Kemerovo Kirov Kostroma Kurgan Kursk Leningrad Lipetsk Magadan Moscow Murmansk Nizhniy Novgorod Novgorod Novosibirsk Omsk Orenburg Orel Penza Pskov Rostov Ryazan' Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk) Samara Saratov Smolensk Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg) Tambov Tomsk Tula Tver' Tyumen' Ul'yanovsk Vladimir Volgograd Vologda Voronezh Yaroslavl'
Republics: Adygeya Altay (Gorno-Altaysk) Bashkortostan (Ufa) Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude) Chechnya (Groznyy) Chuvashiya (Cheboksary) Dagestan (Makhachkala) Ingushetiya (Magas) Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik) Kalmykiya (Elista) Karachayevo-Cherkesiya (Cherkessk) Kareliya (Petrozavodsk) Khakasiya (Abakan) Komi (Syktyvkar) Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola) Mordoviya (Saransk) North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz) Sakha [Yakutiya] (Yakutsk) Tatarstan (Kazan') Tyva (Kyzyl) Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)
Autonomous okrugs: Chukotka Khanty-Mansi-Yugra (Khanty-Mansiysk) Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar) Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
Krays: Altay Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy) Khabarovsk Krasnodar Krasnoyarsk Perm' Primorskiy [Maritime] (Vladivostok) Stavropol' Zabaykal'sk [Transbaikal] (Chita)
Federal cities: Moscow [Moskva] Saint Petersburg [Sankt-Peterburg]
Autonomous oblast: Yevreyskaya [Jewish]
Note 1: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers
Note 2: the United States does not recognize Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the municipality of Sevastopol nor their redesignation as the Republic of Crimea and the Federal City of Sevastopol

Dependent areas

Independence: 24 August 1991 (from the Soviet Union); notable earlier dates: 1157 (Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal created); 16 January 1547 (Tsardom of Muscovy established); 22 October 1721 (Russian Empire proclaimed); 30 December 1922 (Soviet Union established)

National holiday: Russia Day 12 June (1990)

Constitution: several previous (during Russian Empire and Soviet eras); latest drafted 12 July 1993 adopted by referendum 12 December 1993 effective 25 December 1993; amended 2008 2014 (2016)

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

International law organization participation: has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; non-party state to the ICCt

Citizenship
Citizenship by birth: no
Citizenship by descent only: at least one parent must be a citizen of Russia
Dual citizenship recognized: yes
Residency requirement for naturalization: 3-5 years

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN
Head of government: Premier Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV ; First Deputy Premier Igor Ivanovich SHUVALOV (since 12 May 2008); Deputy Premiers Arkadiy Vladimirovich DVORKOVICH (since 21 May 2012) Olga Yuryevna GOLODETS (since 21 May 2012) Aleksandr Gennadiyevich KHLOPONIN (since 19 January 2010) Dmitriy Nikolayevich KOZAK (since 14 October 2008) Dmitriy Olegovich ROGOZIN (since 23 December 2011) Sergey Eduardovich PRIKHODKO (since 22 May 2013) Yuriy Petrovich TRUTNEV (since 31 August 2013)
Cabinet: the 'Government' is composed of the premier his deputies and ministers all appointed by the president; the premier is also confirmed by the Duma
Electionsappointments: president directly elected by absolute majority popular vote in 2 rounds if needed for a 6-year term ; election last held on 4 March 2012 (next to be held in March 2018); note - term length extended to 6 years from 4 years in late 2008 effective after the 2012 election; there is no vice president; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
Election results: Vladimir PUTIN elected president; percent of vote - Vladimir PUTIN 63.6% Gennadiy ZYUGANOV (CPRF) 17.2% Mikhail PROKHOROV(Civic Platform) 8% Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKIY (LDPR) 6.2% Sergey MIRONOV (A Just Russia) 3.9% other 1.1%; Dmitriy MEDVEDEV (United Russia) approved as premier by Duma; vote - 299 to 144
Note: there is also a Presidential Administration 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

Legislative branch
Description: bicameral Federal Assembly or Federalnoye Sobraniye consists of the Federation Council or Sovet Federatsii and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats; as of February 2014 the electoral system reverted to a mixed electoral system for the 2016 election in which one-half of the members are directly elected by simple majority vote and one-half directly elected by proportional representation vote; members serve 5-year terms)
Elections: State Duma - last held on 18 September 2016
Election results: State Duma - United Russia 54.2% CPRF 13.3% LDPR 13.1% A Just Russia 6.2% Rodina 1.5% CPI 0.2% other 11.5%; seats by party - United Russia 343 CPRF 42 LDPR 39 A Just Russia 23 Rodina 1 CPI 1 independent 1
Note: the State Duma now includes 2 representatives each from the Republic of Crimea and Federal City of Sevastopol two annexed Ukrainian regions that the US does not recognize as part of Russia

Judicial branch
Highest court: Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ; Constitutional Court (consists of 19 members); note - in February 2014 Russia’s Superior Court of Arbitration was abolished and its former authorities transferred to the Supreme Court which in addition to being the country’s highest judicial authority for appeals civil criminal administrative cases and military cases and the disciplinary judicial board now has jurisdiction over economic disputes
Judge selection and term of office: all members of Russia's 3 highest courts nominated by the president and appointed by the Federation Council ; members of all 3 courts appointed for life
Subordinate courts: Higher Arbitration Court; regional and provincial (oblast) courts; Moscow and St. Petersburg city courts; autonomous province and district courts; note - the 14 Russian Republics have court systems specified by their own constitutions

Political parties and leaders:
Note: 78 political parties are registered with Russia's Ministry of Justice but only six parties maintain representation in Russia's national legislature and two of these only have one deputy apiece

International organization participation: APEC Arctic Council ARF ASEAN (dialogue partner) BIS BRICS BSEC CBSS CD CE CERN (observer) CICA CIS CSTO EAEC EAEU EAPC EAS EBRD FAO FATF G-20 GCTU IAEA IBRD ICAO ICC (national committees) ICRM IDA IFAD IFC IFRCS IHO ILO IMF IMO IMSO Interpol IOC IOM (observer) IPU ISO ITSO ITU ITUC (NGOs) LAIA (observer) MIGA MINURSO MONUSCO NEA NSG OAS (observer) OIC (observer) OPCW OSCE Paris Club PCA PFP SCO UN UNCTAD UNESCO UNHCR UNIDO UNISFA UNMIL UNMISS UNOCI UNSC (permanent) UNTSO UNWTO UPU WCO WFTU (NGOs) WHO WIPO WMO WTO ZC

Diplomatic representation
In the us chief of mission: Ambassador Sergey Ivanovich KISLYAK
In the us chancery: 2,650 Wisconsin Avenue NW Washington DC 20,007
In the us telephone: [1] 298-5,700 5,701 5,704 5,708
In the us FAX: [1] 298-5,735
In the us consulate general: Houston New York San Francisco Seattle
From the us chief of mission: Ambassador John Francis TEFFT
From the us embassy: Bolshoy Deviatinskiy Pereulok No. 8 121,099 Moscow
From the us mailing address: PSC-77 APO AE 9,721
From the us telephone: [7] 728-5,000
From the us FAX: [7] 728-5,090
From the us consulate general: Saint Petersburg Vladivostok Yekaterinburg

Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of white (top) blue and red
Note: the colors may have been based on those of the Dutch flag; despite many popular interpretations there is no official meaning assigned to the colors of the Russian flag; this flag inspired several other Slav countries to adopt horizontal tricolors of the same colors but in different arrangements and so red blue and white became the Pan-Slav colors

National symbols: bear double-headed eagle; national colors: white blue red

National anthem
Name: 'Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii'
Lyrics and music: Sergey Vladimirovich MIKHALKOV/Aleksandr Vasilyevich ALEKSANDROV
Note: in 2000 Russia adopted the tune of the anthem of the former Soviet Union ; the lyrics also adopted in 2000 were written by the same person who authored the Soviet lyrics in 1943

National heritage


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Economy overview:

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Note: data are in 2015 US dollars
Rank: 7

Real gdp growth rate:
Rank: 211

Real gdp per capita:
Note: data are in 2015 US dollars
Rank: 73

Gross national saving:
Rank: 60

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 54.1%
Government consumption: 19.1%
Investment in fixed capital: 21.7%
Investment in inventories: -3.4%
Exports of goods and services: 29.8%
Imports of goods and services: -21.2%

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 4.6%
Industry: 32.6%
Services: 62.1%

Agriculture products: grain sugar beets sunflower seeds 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; defense industries (including radar missile production 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

Industrial production growth rate: -3.6% (2015 est.)
Rank: 184

Labor force: 76.58 million (2015 est.)
Rank: 8
By occupation agriculture: 9.4%
By occupation industry: 27.6%
By occupation services: 63%

Unemployment rate:
Rank: 64

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 11.2% (2014 est.)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Lowest 10: 5.7%
Highest 10: 42.4%

Distribution of family income gini index:
Rank: 54

Budget
Revenues: $224.2 billion
Expenditures: $256.3 billion
Surplus or deficit: -2.4% of GDP (2015 est.)
Surplus or deficit rank: 101

Taxes and other revenues: 16.9% of GDP (2015 est.)
Rank: 181

Public debt:
Note: data cover general government debt and include debt instruments issued by government entities other than the treasury; the data include treasury debt held by foreign entities; the data include debt issued by subnational entities as well as intra-governmental debt; intra-governmental debt consists of treasury borrowings from surpluses in the social funds such as for retirement medical care and unemployment debt instruments for the social funds are not sold at public auctions
Rank: 171

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices:
Rank: 217

Central bank discount rate:
Note: this is the so-called refinancing rate but in Russia banks do not get refinancing at this rate; this is a reference rate used primarily for fiscal purposes
Rank: 20

Commercial bank prime lending rate:
Rank: 33

Stock of narrow money:
Rank: 27

Stock of broad money:
Rank: 19

Stock of domestic credit:
Rank: 22

Market value of publicly traded shares:
Rank: 25

Current account balance:
Rank: 8

Exports:
Rank: 15
Commodities: petroleum and petroleum products natural gas metals wood and wood products chemicals and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
Partners: Netherlands 11.9% China 8.3% Germany 7.4% Italy 6.5% Turkey 5.6% Belarus 4.4% Japan 4.2% (2015)

Imports:
Rank: 23
Commodities: machinery vehicles pharmaceutical products plastic semi-finished metal products meat fruits and nuts optical and medical instruments iron steel
Partners: China 19.2% Germany 11.2% US 6.4% Belarus 4.8% Italy 4.6% (2015)

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold:
Rank: 7

Debt external:
Rank: 23

Stock of direct foreign investment at home:
Rank: 20

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad:
Rank: 20

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Access electrification total population: 100%
Production: 1.064 trillion kWh (2014 est.)
Production rank: 4
Consumption: 1.065 trillion kWh (2014 est.)
Consumption rank: 4
Exports: 8.12 billion kWh (2014 est.)
Exports rank: 25
Imports: 8.87 billion kWh (2014 est.)
Imports rank: 24
Installed generating capacity: 248 million kW (2014 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 6
Generation sources fossil fuels: 68.8% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 110
Generation sources nuclear: 10.1% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 18
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 20.2% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 92
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0.4% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 104

Coal

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 10.25 million bbl/day (2015 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 1
Crude oil exports: 4.888 million bbl/day (2013 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 2
Crude oil imports: 29,650 bbl/day (2014 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 62
Crude oil proven reserves: 80 billion bbl (1 January 2016 es)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 7

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 6.053 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products production rank: 4
Products consumption: 3.693 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products consumption rank: 8
Products exports: 2.308 million bbl/day (2014 est.)
Products exports rank: 1
Products imports: 44,600 bbl/day (2013 est.)
Products imports rank: 83

Natural gas
Production: 603.9 billion m³ (2014 est.)
Production rank: 2
Consumption: 453.3 billion m³ (2014 est.)
Consumption rank: 2
Exports: 184.5 billion m³ (2014 est.)
Exports rank: 1
Imports: 33.9 billion m³ (2014 est.)
Imports rank: 14
Proven reserves: 47.8 trillion m³ (1 January 2016 es)
Proven reserves rank: 2

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 1.726 billion Mt (2013 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 5

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 36,524,978
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 26
Fixed lines rank: 7
Mobile cellular total: 227.288 million
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 160
Mobile cellular rank: 7

Telephone system
General assessment: the telephone system is experiencing significant changes; more than 1000 companies licensed to offer communication services; access to digital lines has improved particularly in urban centers; progress made toward building the telecommunications infrastructure necessary for a market economy; the estimated number of mobile subscribers jumped from fewer than 1 million in 1998 to more than 235 million in 2011; fixed-line service has improved but a large demand remains
Domestic: cross-country digital trunk lines run from Saint 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 telephone services are still outdated inadequate and low-density
International: country code - 7; connected internationally by undersea fiber -optic cables; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat Intersputnik Eutelsat Inmarsat and Orbita systems

Broadcast media: 13 national TV stations with the federal government owning 1 and holding a controlling interest in a second; state-owned Gazprom maintains a controlling interest in 2 of the national channels; government-affiliated Bank Rossiya owns controlling interest in a fourth and fifth while a sixth national channel is owned by the Moscow city administration; the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian military respectively own 2 additional national channels; roughly 3,300 national regional and local TV stations with over two-thirds completely or partially controlled by the federal or local governments; satellite TV services are available; 2 state-run national radio networks with a third majority-owned by Gazprom; roughly 2,400 public and commercial radio stations (2016)

Internet
Country code: .ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain '.su' that was allocated to the Soviet Union and is being phased out
Users total: 104.553 million
Users percent of population: 73.4%
Users rank: 7

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures:
Rank: 16

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation: 18-27 years of age for compulsory or voluntary military service; males are registered for the draft at 17 years of age; 1-year service obligation (conscripts can only be sent to combat zones after 6 months of training); reserve obligation for non-officers to age 50; enrollment in military schools from the age of 16 cadets classified as members of the armed forces
Note: the chief of the General Staff Mobilization Directorate announced in March 2015 that for health reasons only 76% of draftees called up during the spring 2015 draft campaign were fit for military service

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system
Number of registered air carriers: 32
Inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 661
Annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers: 76,846,126
Annual freight traffic on registered air carriers: 4,761,047,070 mt-km

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix: RA (2016)

Airports: 1218 (2013)
Rank: 5
With paved runways total: 594
With paved runways over 3047 m: 54
With paved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 197
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 123
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 95
With paved runways under 914 m: 125
With unpaved runways total: 624
With unpaved runways over 3047 m: 4
With unpaved runways 2438 to 3047 m: 13
With unpaved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 69
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 81
With unpaved runways under 914 m: 457

Heliports: 49 (2013)

Pipelines: condensate 122 km; gas 163,872 km; liquid petroleum gas 1378 km; oil 80,820 km; oil/gas/water 40 km; refined products 13,658 km; water 23 km (2013)

Railways
Total: 87,157 km
Broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge
Narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge
Note: an additional 30,000 km of non-common carrier lines serve industries
Rank: 3

Roadways
Total: 1,283,387 km
Paved: 927,721 km
Unpaved: 355,666 km
Rank: 5

Waterways: 102,000 km (including 48,000 km with guaranteed depth; the 72,000-km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea White Sea Caspian Sea Sea of Azov and Black Sea) (2009)
Rank: 2

Merchant marine
Total: 1143
By type: bulk carrier 20 cargo 642 carrier 3 chemical tanker 57 combination ore/oil 42 container 13 passenger 15 passenger/cargo 7 petroleum tanker 244 refrigerated cargo 84 roll on/roll off 13 specialized tanker 3
Foreign owned: 155
Registered in other countries: 439 (2010)
Rank: 11

Ports and terminals
Major seaport: Kaliningrad Nakhodka Novorossiysk Primorsk Vostochnyy
River port: Saint Petersburg
Oil terminal: Kavkaz oil terminal
Container port: Saint Petersburg (2,365,174)
LNG terminal: Sakhalin Island


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Disputes international:

Refugees and internally displaced persons
Refugees: 311,407 (Ukraine) (2015)
IDPs: 27,000 (2015)
Stateless persons: 101,813 ; note - Russia's stateless population consists of Roma Meskhetian Turks and ex-Soviet citizens from the former republics; between 2003 and 2010 more than 600,000 stateless people were naturalized; most Meskhetian Turks followers of Islam with origins in Georgia fled or were evacuated from Uzbekistan after a 1989 pogrom and have lived in Russia for more than the required five-year residency period; they continue to be denied registration for citizenship and basic rights by local Krasnodar Krai authorities on the grounds that they are temporary illegal migrants

Illicit drugs: limited cultivation of illicit cannabis and opium poppy and producer of methamphetamine mostly for domestic consumption; government has active illicit crop eradication program; used as transshipment point for Asian opiates cannabis and Latin American cocaine bound for growing domestic markets to a lesser extent Western and Central Europe and occasionally to the US; major source of heroin precursor chemicals; corruption and organized crime are key concerns; major consumer of opiates