Local date & time:
(Moscow)
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Russia - Social & Geographic Profile
| 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 |
| Natural resources: |
wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
NB
formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources |
| 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 |
| Population: |
140,041,247 (July 2009 est.) |
| Age structure: |
0-14 years: 14.8% (male 10,644,833/female 10,095,011)
15-64 years: 71.5% (male 48,004,040/female 52,142,313)
65 years and over: 13.7% (male 5,880,877/female 13,274,173) (2009 est.) |
| Ethnic groups: |
Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census |
| 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 |
| Languages: |
Russian, many minority languages |
| Capital: |
name: Moscow
geographic coordinates: 55 45 N, 37 35 E
time difference: GMT +3
daylight saving time:
+1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October note: Russia is divided into 9 time zones |
| Administrative divisions: |
48 oblasts (oblastey, singular - oblast), 21 republics (respublik, singular - respublika), 9 autonomous okrugs (avtonomnykh okrugov, singular - avtonomnyy okrug), 7 krays (krayev, singular - kray), 2 federal cities (singular - gorod), and 1 autonomous oblast (avtonomnaya oblast')
oblasts: Amur (Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Belgorod, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Irkutsk, Ivanovo, Kaliningrad, Kaluga, Kamchatka (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), 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 (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 okrugs: Aga Buryat (Aginskoye), Chukotka (Anadyr'), Evenk (Tura), Khanty-Mansi, Koryak (Palana), Nenets (Nar'yan-Mar), Taymyr [Dolgano-Nenets] (Dudinka), Ust'-Orda Buryat (Ust'-Ordynskiy), Yamalo-Nenets (Salekhard)
krays: Altay (Barnaul), Khabarovsk, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Permskiy, Primorskiy (Vladivostok), Stavropol'
federal cities: Moscow (Moskva), Saint Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg)
autonomous oblast: Yevrey [Jewish] (Birobidzhan)
note: administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses) |
| Legal system: |
Based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts |
| Executive branch: |
chief of state: President Dmitriy Anatolyevich MEDVEDEV (since 7 May 2008)
head of government: Premier Vladimir Vladimirovich PUTIN (since 8 May 2008); First Deputy Premiers Igor Ivanovich SHUVALOV and Viktor Alekseyevich ZUBKOV (since 12 May 2008); Deputy Premiers Sergey Borisovich IVANOV (since 12 May 2008), Aleksandr KHLOPONIN (since 19 January 2010), Dmitriy Nikolayevich KOZAK (since 14 October 2008), Aleksey Leonidovich KUDRIN (since 24 September 2007), Igor Ivanovich SECHIN (since 12 May 2008), Sergey Semenovich SOBYANIN (since 12 May 2008), Aleksandr Dmitriyevich ZHUKOV (since 9 March 2004)
cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and selected other individuals; 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 (eligible for a second term); election last held 2 March 2008 (next to be held in March 2012); note - no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma
election results: Dmitriy MEDVEDEV elected president; percent of vote - Dmitriy MEDVEDEV 70.2%, Gennady ZYUGANOV 17.7%, Vladimir ZHIRINOVSKY 9.4%, Andrey BOGDANOV 1.3% |
| Diplomatic representation from the UK: |
10 Smolenskaya Naberezhnaya
121099 Moscow
Tel: 00 7 495 956 7200
Fax: 00 7 495 956 7201
Russian Federation, Moscow, British Embassy
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| GDP (purchasing power parity): |
$2.116 trillion (2009 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): |
11.9% (2009 est.) |
| 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, and 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 |
| Exports: |
$295.6 billion (2009 est.) |
| Exports - commodities: |
Petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures |
| Exports - partners: |
Netherlands 12.2%, Italy 9%, Germany 6.9%, Turkey 5.9%, Ukraine 5%, China 4.5%, Poland 4.3% (2008) |
| Imports: |
$196.8 billion (2009 est.) |
| Imports - commodities: |
Vehicles, machinery and equipment, plastics, medicines, iron and steel, consumer goods, meat, fruits and nuts, semifinished metal products |
| Imports - partners: |
China 12.9%, Germany 12.6%, Japan 6.9%, Ukraine 6%, US 5.1%, Italy 4.1% (2008) |
| Currency (code): |
Russian ruble (RUR) |
| Airports: |
1,216
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| Railways: |
total: 87,157 km |
| Roadways: |
total: 933,000 km |
| Ports and terminals: |
Azov, Kaliningrad, Kavkaz, Nakhodka, Novorossiysk, Primorsk, Saint Petersburg, Vostochnyy |
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