Background: Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy emerged from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and gradually conquered and absorbed surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new ROMANOV dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Devastating defeats and food shortages in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow of the ROMANOV Dynasty in 1917. The communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened communist control and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. After defeating Germany in World War II as part of an alliance with the US (1939-1945), the USSR expanded its territory and influence in Eastern Europe and emerged as a global power. The USSR was the principal US adversary during the Cold War (1947-1991). The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the decades following Stalin's rule, until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism. His initiatives inadvertently released political and economic forces that by December 1991 led to the dissolution of the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent states. In response to the ensuing turmoil during President Boris YELTSIN's term (1991-99), Russia shifted toward a centralized authoritarian state under President Vladimir PUTIN (2000-2008, 2012-present) in which the regime seeks to legitimize its rule through managed elections, populist appeals, a foreign policy focused on enhancing the country's geopolitical influence, and commodity-based economic growth. In 2014, Russia purported to annex Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and occupied large portions of two eastern Ukrainian oblasts. In sporadic fighting over the next eight years, more than 14,000 civilians were killed or wounded as a result of the Russian invasion in eastern Ukraine. On 24 February 2022, Russia escalated its conflict with Ukraine by invading the country on several fronts in what has become the largest conventional military attack on a sovereign state in Europe since World War II. The invasion received near-universal international condemnation, and many countries imposed sanctions on Russia and supplied humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. In September 2022, Russia unilaterally declared its annexation of four Ukrainian oblasts -- Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia -- even though none were fully under Russian control. The annexations remain unrecognized by the international community.

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

Land boundaries
Total: 22,407 km
Border countries (14): (14) Azerbaijan 338 km; Belarus 1,312 km; China (southeast) 4,133 km; and China (south) 46 km; Estonia 324 km; Finland 1,309 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) 209 km; Ukraine 1,944 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
Highest point: Gora El'brus (highest point in Europe) 5,642 m
Lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m
Mean elevation: 600 m

Land use
Agricultural land: 13.2% (2023 est.)
Arable land: 7.4% (2023 est.)
Permanent crops: 0.1% (2023 est.)
Permanent pasture: 5.6% (2023 est.)
Forest: 50.7% (2023 est.)
Other: 35.9% (2023 est.)

Irrigated land: 43,000 km² (2012)

Major rivers: Yenisey-Angara - 5,539 km; Ob-Irtysh - 5,410 km; Amur river mouth (shared with China [s] and Mongolia) - 4,444 km; Lena - 4,400 km; Volga - 3,645 km; Kolyma - 2,513 km; Ural river source (shared with Kazakhstan [m]) - 2,428 km; Dnepr (Dnieper) river source (shared with Belarus and Ukraine [m]) - 2,287 km; Don - 1,870 km; Pechora - 1,809 km
Note: [s] after country name indicates river source; [m] after country name indicates river mouth

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 in Siberia and parts of European Russia
Volcanism: Kamchatka Peninsula is home to 29 historically active volcanoes, with dozens more in the Kuril Islands; Kliuchevskoi (4,835 m) 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; see note 2 under 'Geography - note'

Geography
Note note 1: largest country in the world in terms of area; despite its size, much of the country lacks the soil and climate (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture
Note note 2: Russia's far east, particularly the Kamchatka Peninsula, lies along the Ring of Fire, which is a belt bordering the Pacific Ocean that contains about 75% of the world's volcanoes and up to 90% of the world's earthquakes
Note note 3: 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 surface water
Note note 4: Kaliningrad oblast is an exclave annexed from Germany after World War II; its capital city of Kaliningrad -- formerly Koenigsberg -- is the only Baltic port in Russia that remains ice-free in the winter

Population
Total: 140,820,810 (2024 est.)
Male: 65,496,805
Female: 75,324,005
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 population pockets are isolated and generally found in the south
Growth rate: -0.49% (2024 est.)

Languages: Russian (official) 85.7%, Tatar 3.2%, Chechen 1%, other 10.1% (2010 est.)
Major-language sample(s): ; Книга фактов о мире – незаменимый источник базовой информации. (Russian); The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
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 official atheism under Soviet rule; Russia officially recognizes Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism as the country's traditional religions

Age structure
0-14 years: 16.5% (male 11,956,284/female 11,313,829)
15-64 years: 65.7% (male 45,007,073/female 47,518,221)
65 years and over: 17.8% (2024 est.) (male 8,533,448/female 16,491,955)

Dependency ratios
Total dependency ratio: 52.2 (2024 est.)
Youth dependency ratio: 25.2 (2024 est.)
Elderly dependency ratio: 27 (2024 est.)
Potential support ratio: 3.7 (2024 est.)

Median age
Total: 41.9 years (2024 est.)
Male: 39.4 years
Female: 44.5 years

Population growth rate: -0.49% (2024 est.)

Birth rate: 8.4 births/1,000 population (2024 est.)

Death rate: 14 deaths/1,000 population (2024 est.)

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 population pockets are isolated and generally found in the south

Urbanization
Urban population: 75.3% of total population (2023)
Rate of urbanization: 0.11% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: 12.680 million MOSCOW (capital), 5.561 million Saint Petersburg, 1.695 million Novosibirsk, 1.528 million Yekaterinburg, 1.292 million Kazan, 1.251 million Nizhniy Novgorod (2023)

Sex ratio
At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.52 male(s)/female
Total population: 0.87 male(s)/female (2024 est.)

Maternal mortality ratio: 9 deaths/100,000 live births (2023 est.)

Infant mortality rate
Total: 6.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2024 est.)
Male: 7.2 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 5.8 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth
Total population: 72.3 years (2024 est.)
Male: 67.4 years
Female: 77.4 years

Total fertility rate: 1.52 children born/woman (2024 est.)

Drinking water source
Urban: 1.1% of population (2022 est.)
Rural: 8.5% of population (2022 est.)
Total: 2.9% of population (2022 est.)

Sanitation facility access
Urban: 4.6% of population (2022 est.)
Rural: 28.6% of population (2022 est.)
Total: 10.6% of population (2022 est.)

Youth unemployment
Rate (ages 15-24): 2.6% (2024 est.); 3.1% (2023 est.); 3.9% (2022 est.)
Rate (ages 15-24) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Capital
Name: Moscow
Geographic coordinates: 55 45 N, 37 36 E
Time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
Daylight saving time: does not observe daylight savings time (DST)
Time zone 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 dropped
Etymology: named after the Moskva River; the origin of the river's name is unclear

Administrative divisions: 46 provinces (oblasti, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respubliki, singular - respublika), 4 autonomous districts (avtonomnyye okrugi, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 9 federal subjects (kraya, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (goroda, singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous province (avtonomnaya oblast')
Oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Kursk, Leningrad (Gatchina), 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, Ulyanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl
Republics: Adygeya (Maykop), 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 districts: Chukotka (Anadyr'), Khanty-Mansi-Yugra (Khanty-Mansiysk), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
Federal subjects: Altay (Barnaul), Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorskiy [Maritime] (Vladivostok), Stavropol, Zabaykalsk [Transbaikal] (Chita)
Federal cities: Moscow [Moskva], Saint Petersburg [Sankt-Peterburg]
Autonomous province: Yevreyskaya [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
Note 1: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers; exceptions show the administrative center name in parentheses
Note 2: the United States does not recognize Russia's annexation or renaming of Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the municipality of Sevastopol; it similarly does not recognize the annexation of the Ukrainian oblasts Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson

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

Executive branch
Chief of state: President Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (since 7 May 2012)
Head of government: Premier Mikhail Vladimirovich MISHUSTIN (since 16 January 2020)
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
Election/appointment process: president directly elected by absolute-majority popular vote in 2 rounds, if needed, for a 6-year term (eligible for a second consecutive term)
Most recent election date: 15-17 March 2024
2024: Vladimir PUTIN reelected president; percent of vote - Vladimir PUTIN (independent) 88.5%, Nikolay KHARITONOV (Communist Party) 4.4%, Vladislav DAVANKOV (New People party) 3.9%, Leonid SLUTSKY (Liberal Democrats) 3.2%
2018: Vladimir PUTIN reelected president; percent of vote - Vladimir PUTIN (independent) 77.5%, Pavel GRUDININ (CPRF) 11.9%, Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKIY (LDPR) 5.7%, other 4.9%; Mikhail MISHUSTIN (independent) approved as premier by Duma; vote - 383 to 0
Expected date of next election: 2,030
Note: a Presidential Administration 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
Legislature name: Federal Assembly (Federalnoye Sobraniye)
Legislative structure: bicameral
Note 1: the State Duma now includes 3 representatives from the 'Republic of Crimea,' while the Federation Council includes 2 each from the 'Republic of Crimea' and the 'Federal City of Sevastopol,' both regions that Russia occupied and attempted to annex from Ukraine and that the US does not recognize as part of Russia

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

National anthem
Title: “Gosudarstvenny Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii” (National Anthem of the Russian Federation)
Lyrics/music: Sergey Vladimirovich MIKHALKOV/Aleksandr Vasilyevich ALEKSANDROV
History: adopted 2000; Russia adopted the tune of the Soviet Union's anthem (composed in 1939), as well as new lyrics; MIKHALKOV, who wrote the new lyrics, also authored the Soviet lyrics in 1943

National heritage
Total World Heritage Sites: 33 (22 cultural, 11 natural)
Selected World Heritage Site locales:

Real gdp growth rate: 4.3% (2024 est.); 4.1% (2023 est.); -1.4% (2022 est.)
Note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Real gdp per capita: 4.3% (2024 est.); 4.1% (2023 est.); -1.4% (2022 est.)
Note: annual GDP % growth based on constant local currency

Gdp composition by end use
Household consumption: 49.4% (2024 est.)
Government consumption: 18.6% (2024 est.)
Investment in fixed capital: 22.1% (2024 est.)
Investment in inventories: 4.2% (2024 est.)
Exports of goods and services: 21.9% (2024 est.)
Imports of goods and services: -17.6% (2024 est.)
Note: figures may not total 100% due to rounding or gaps in data collection

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Agriculture: 2.7% (2024 est.)
Industry: 30.7% (2024 est.)
Services: 57.5% (2024 est.)
Note: figures may not total 100% due to non-allocated consumption not captured in sector-reported data

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: 4.1% (2024 est.)
Note: annual % change in industrial value added based on constant local currency

Labor force: 72.517 million (2024 est.)
Note: number of people ages 15 or older who are employed or seeking work

Unemployment rate: 2.6% (2024 est.); 3.1% (2023 est.); 3.9% (2022 est.)
Note: % of labor force seeking employment

Youth unemployment
Rate (ages 15-24): 2.6% (2024 est.); 3.1% (2023 est.); 3.9% (2022 est.)
Rate (ages 15-24) note: % of labor force seeking employment

Budget
Revenues: $704.613 billion (2023 est.)
Expenditures: $635.809 billion (2023 est.)
Note: central government revenues (excluding grants) and expenditures converted to US dollars at average official exchange rate for year indicated

Taxes and other revenues: 12.1% (of GDP) (2023 est.)
Note: central government tax revenue as a % of GDP

Exports: $475.277 billion (2024 est.); $465.22 billion (2023 est.); $640.878 billion (2022 est.)
Note: balance of payments - exports of goods and services in current dollars
Commodities: crude petroleum, refined petroleum, natural gas, coal, fertilizers (2023)
Commodities note: top five export commodities based on value in dollars

Imports: $381.45 billion (2024 est.); $379.659 billion (2023 est.); $347.384 billion (2022 est.)
Note: balance of payments - imports of goods and services in current dollars
Commodities: cars, packaged medicine, broadcasting equipment, garments, plastic products (2023)
Commodities note: top five import commodities based on value in dollars

Electricity
Installed generating capacity: 301.926 million kW (2023 est.)
Consumption: 1.011 trillion kWh (2023 est.)
Exports: 18.66 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Imports: 2.852 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Transmission/distribution losses: 97.301 billion kWh (2023 est.)
Access electrification - total population: 100% (2022 est.)
Access electrification - urban areas: 99.1%
Access electrification - rural areas: 100%
Generation sources fossil fuels: 61.8% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources nuclear: 19.3% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources solar: 0.2% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources wind: 0.7% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 17.6% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
Generation sources biomass and waste: 0.3% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)

Coal
Production: 531.13 million metric tons (2023 est.)
Consumption: 290.763 million metric tons (2023 est.)
Exports: 211.944 million metric tons (2023 est.)
Imports: 20.765 million metric tons (2023 est.)
Proven reserves: 162.166 billion metric tons (2023 est.)

Petroleum
Total petroleum production: 10.879 million bbl/day (2023 est.)
Refined petroleum consumption: 3.863 million bbl/day (2023 est.)
Crude oil estimated reserves: 80 billion barrels (2021 est.)

Natural gas
Production: 613.447 billion cubic meters (2023 est.)
Consumption: 474.448 billion cubic meters (2023 est.)
Exports: 124.479 billion cubic meters (2023 est.)
Imports: 5.724 billion cubic meters (2023 est.)
Proven reserves: 47.805 trillion cubic meters (2021 est.)

Carbon dioxide emissions: 1.844 billion metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)
From coal and metallurgical coke: 479.311 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)
From petroleum and other liquids: 453.103 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)
From consumed natural gas: 912.076 million metric tonnes of CO&sub2; (2023 est.)

Energy consumption per capita: 224.858 million Btu/person (2023 est.)

Telephones
Fixed lines total subscriptions: 20,816,300 (2023 est.)
Fixed lines subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 15 (2022 est.)
Mobile cellular total subscriptions: 245 million (2022 est.)
Mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 169 (2021 est.)

Internet
Users percent of population: 92% (2023 est.)

Broadband fixed subscriptions
Total: 35.9 million (2022 est.)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 25 (2022 est.)

Military expenditures: 7% of GDP (2024 est.); 5% of GDP (2023 est.); 4.5% of GDP (2022 est.); 4% of GDP (2021 est.); 4% of GDP (2020 est.)

Airports: 905 (2025)

Heliports: 494 (2025)

Railways
Total: 85,494 km (2019)
Narrow gauge: 957 km

Merchant marine
Total: 2,910 (2023)
By type: bulk carrier 15, container ship 20, general cargo 976, oil tanker 387, other 1,512