Russian Federation

[Country map of Russia]

Map ©1996 NGS Cartographic Division. Developed in association with GeoSystems Global Corp. World Map

Geography

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

Map references: Asia

Area:
total area: 17,075,200 sq km
land area: 16,995,800 sq km
comparative area: slightly more than 1.8 times the size of the US

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

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

Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
note: formidable obstacles ofclimate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources

Land use:
arable land: 8%
permanent crops: NEGL%
meadows and pastures: 5%
forest and woodland: 45%
other: 42%

Irrigated land: 56,000 sq km (1992)


People

Population: 149,909,089 (July 1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the population at 148,200,000 for 1994

Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 16,208,640; male 16,784,017)
15-64 years: 66% (female 50,711,209; male 48,247,101)
65 years and over: 12% (female 12,557,447; male 5,400,675) (July 1995 est.)

Population growth rate: 0.2% (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the population growth rate at -6.0% for 1994

Birth rate: 12.64 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the birth rate at 9.5 births per l,000 population for 1994

Death rate: 11.36 deaths/1,000 population (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the death rate at 15.5 deaths per l,000 population in 1994

Net migration rate: 0.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1995 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 26.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the infant mortality rate at 19.9 deaths per l,000 live births in 1994

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.1 years
male: 64.1 years
female: 74.35 years (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put life expectancy at birth as 64 years for total population in 1994

Total fertility rate: 1.82 children born/woman (1995 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Russian(s)
adjective: Russian

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

Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other

Languages: Russian, other

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1989)
total population: 98%
male: 100%
female: 97%

Labor force: 85 million (1993)
by occupation: production and economic services 83.9%, government 16.1%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Russian Federation
conventional short form: Russia
local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
local short form: Rossiya
former: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Digraph: RS

Type: federation

Capital: Moscow

Administrative divisions: 21 autonomous republics (avtomnykh respublik, singular - avtomnaya respublika); Adygea (Maykop), Bashkortostan (Ufa), Buryatia (Ulan-Ude), Chechnya (Groznyy), Chuvashia (Cheboksary), Dagestan (Makhachkala), Gorno-Altay (Gorno-Altaysk), Ingushetia (Nazran'), Kabardino-Balkaria (Nal'chik), Kalmykia (Elista), Karachay-Cherkessia (Cherkessk), Karelia (Petrozavodsk), Khakassia (Abakan), Komi(Syktyvkar), Mari El (Yoshkar-Ola), Mordovia (Saransk), North Ossetia (Vladikavkaz), Tatarstan (Kazan'), Tuva (Kyzyl), Udmurtia (Izhevsk), Yakutia - also known as Sakha (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, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Lipetsk, Magadan, Moscow, Murmansk, NizhniyNovgorod, Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orel, Orenburg, Penza, Perm', Pskov, Rostov, Ryazan', Sakhalin (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Samara, Saratov, Smolensk, Sverdlovsk (Yekaterinburg), Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tver', Tyumen', Ul'yanovsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Vologda, Voronezh, Yaroslavl'; 6 krays (krayev, singular - kray); Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'; 10 autonomous okrugs; Aga (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'), Evenkia (Tura), Khantia-Mansia (Khanty-Mansiysk), Koryakia (Palana), Nenetsia (Nar'yan-Mar), Permyakia (Kudymkar), Taymyria (Dudinka), Ust'-Onda (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalia (Salekhard); 1 autonomous oblast (avtomnykh oblast'); Birobijan
note: the autonomous republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia were formerly the autonomous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary between Chechenia and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg are federal cities; an administrative division has the same name asits administrative center (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)

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

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal


Economy

Overview: Russia, a vast country with a wealth of natural resources, a well-educated population, and a diverse industrial base, continues to experience formidable difficulties in moving from its old centrally planned economy to a modern market economy. President YEL'TSIN's government has made substantial strides in converting to a market economy since launching its economic reform program in January 1992 by freeing nearly all prices, slashing defense spending, eliminating the old centralized distribution system, completing an ambitious voucher privatization program, establishing private financial institutions, and decentralizing foreign trade. Russia, however, has made little progress in a number of key areas that are needed to provide a solid foundation for the transition to a market economy. Financial stabilization has remained elusive, with wide swings in monthly inflation rates. Only limited restructuring of industry has occurred so far because of a scarcity of investment funds and the failure of enterprise managers to make hard cost-cutting decisions. In addition, Moscow has yet to develop a social safety net that would allow faster restructuring by relieving enterprises of the burden of providing social benefits for their workers and has been slow to develop the legal framework necessary to fully support a market economy and to encourage foreign investment. As a result, output has continued to fall. According to Russian official data, which probably overstate the fall, GDP declined by 15% in 1994 compared with a 12% decline in 1993. Industrial output in 1994 fell 21% with all major sectors taking a hit. Agricultural production in 1994 was down 9%. The grain harvest totaled 81 million tons, some 15 million tons less than in 1993. Unemployment climbed to an estimated 6.6 million or about 7% of the work force by yearend 1994. Floundering Russian firms have already had to put another 4.8 million workers on involuntary, unpaid leave or shortened workweeks. Government fears of large-scale unemployment continued to hamper industrial restructuring efforts. According to official Russian data, real per capita income was up nearly 18% in 1994 compared with 1993, in part because many Russians are working second jobs. Most Russians perceive that they are worse off now because of growing crime and health problems and mounting wage arrears. Russia has made significant headway in privatizing state assets, completing its voucher privatization program at midyear 1994. At least a portion ofabout 110,000 state enterprises were transferred to private hands by the end of 1994. Including partially privatized firms, the private sector accounted for roughly half of GDP in 1994. Financial stabilization continued to remain a challenge for the government. Moscow tightened financial policies in late 1993 and early 1994, including postponing planned budget spending, and succeeded in reducing monthly inflation from 18% in January to about 5% in July and August. At midyear, however, the governmentrelaxed austerity measures in the face of mounting pressure from industry and agriculture, sparking a new round of inflation; the monthly inflation rate jumped to roughly 15% per month during the fourth quarter. In response, Moscow announced a fairly tight government budget for 1995 designed to bring monthly inflation down to around 1% by the end of 1995. According to official statistics, Russia's 1994 trade with nations outside the former Soviet Union produced a $12.3 billion surplus, up from $11.3billion in 1993. Foreign sales - comprised largely of oil, natural gas, and other raw materials - grew more than 8%. Imports also were up 8% as demand for food and other consumer goods surged. Russian trade with other former Soviet republics continued to decline. At the same time, Russia paid only a fraction of the roughly $20 billion in debt that came due in 1994, and by the end of the year, Russia's hard currency foreign debt had risen to nearly $100 billion. Moscow reached agreement to restructure debts with Paris Club official creditors in mid-1994 and concluded a preliminary deal with its commercial bank creditors late in the year to reschedule debts owed them in early 1995. Capital flight continued to be a serious problem in 1994, with billions of additional dollars in assets being moved abroad, primarily to bank accounts in Europe. Russia's physical plant continues to deteriorate because of insufficient maintenance and new construction. Plant and equipment on average are twice the age ofthe West's. Many years will pass before Russia can take full advantage of its natural resources and its human assets.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $721.2 billion (1994 estimate as extrapolated from World Bank estimate for 1992)

National product real growth rate: -15% (1994 est.)

National product per capita: $4,820 (1994 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 10% per month (average 1994)

Unemployment rate: 7.1% (December 1994) with considerable additional underemployment

Budget:
revenues: $NA
expenditures: $NA, including capital expenditures of $NA

Exports: $48 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures
partners: Europe, North America, Japan, Third World countries, Cuba

Imports: $35.7 billion (f.o.b., 1994)
commodities: machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products
partners: Europe, North America, Japan, Third World countries, Cuba

External debt: $95 billion-$100 billion (yearend 1994)

Industrial production: growth rate -21% (1994)

Electricity:
capacity: 213,100,000 KW
production: 876 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 5,800 kWh (1994)

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

Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seeds, meat, milk, vegetables, fruits; because of its northern location does not grow citrus, cotton, tea, and other warm climate products

Currency: 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks

Fiscal year: calendar year


Transportation

Railroads:
total: 154,000 km; note - 87,000 km in common carrier service (49,000 km diesel; and 38,000 km electrified); 67,000 km serve specific industries and are not available for common carrier use
broad gauge: 154,000 km 1.520-m gauge (1 January 1994)

Highways:
total: 934,000 km (445,000 km serve specific industries or farms and are not available for common carrier use)
paved and graveled: 725,000 km
unpaved: 209,000 km (1 January 1994)

Inland waterways: total navigable routes in general use 101,000 km; routes with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet 95,900 km; of which routes with night navigational aids 60,400 km; man-made navigable routes 16,900 km (1 January 1994)

Pipelines: crude oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural gas 140,000 km (30 June 1993)

Ports: Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Kaliningrad, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Sochi, Tuapse, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg

Merchant marine:
total: 800 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 7,295,109 GRT/10,128,579 DWT
ships by type: barge carrier 2, bulk cargo 26, cargo 424, chemical tanker 7, combination bulk 22, combination ore/oil 16, container 81, multifunction large-load carrier 3, oil tanker 111, passenger 4, passenger-cargo 5, refrigerated cargo 19, roll-on/roll-off cargo 62, short-sea passenger 16, specialized tanker 2
note: in addition, Russiaowns 235 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 5,084,439 DWT that operate under Maltese, Cypriot, Liberian, Panamanian, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Honduran, Marshall Islands, Bahamian, and Vanuatu registry

Airports:
total: 2,517
with paved runways over 3,047 m: 54
with paved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 202
with paved runways 1,524 to 2,437 m: 108
with paved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 115
with paved runways under 914 m: 151
with unpaved runways over 3,047 m: 25
with unpaved runways 2,438 to 3,047 m: 45
with unpaved runways 1,524 to 2,438 m: 134
with unpaved runways 914 to 1,523 m: 291
with unpaved runways under 914 m: 1,392


Flag by Dream Maker Software, Inc.
Information obtained from CIA, The World Factbook 1995