1999 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1999 (Internet Archive)
Introduction
Background
Russia, a vast Eurasian expanse of field, forest, desert, and tundra, has endured many "times of trouble"--the Mongol rule of the 13th to 15th century; czarist reigns of terror; massive invasions by Swedes, French, and Germans; and the deadly communist period (1917-91) in which Russia dominated an immense Soviet Union. General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV, in charge during 1985-91, introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism, but also inadvertently released forces that shattered the USSR into 15 independent republics in December 1991. 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. These reform efforts have resulted in contradictory and confusing economic and political regulations and practices. Industry, agriculture, the military, the central government, and the ruble have suffered, but Russia has successfully held one presidential, two legislative, and numerous regional elections since 1991. The severe illnesses of President Boris YEL'TSIN have contributed to a lack of policy focus at the center.
Geography
Area
total: 17,075,200 sq km land: 16,995,800 sq km water: 79,400 sq km
Area--comparative
slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US
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
Coastline
37,653 km
Elevation extremes
lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m highest point: Mount El'brus 5,633 m
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
Environment--international agreements
party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling signed, but not ratified: Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
Geographic coordinates
60 00 N, 100 00 E
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
Irrigated land
40,000 sq km (1993 est.)
Land boundaries
total: 19,917 km border countries: Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 294 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) 206 km, Ukraine 1,576 km
Land use
arable land: 8% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 4% forests and woodland: 46% other: 42% (1993 est.)
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
Maritime claims
continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm
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
Natural resources
wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources
Terrain
broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions
People and Society
Age structure
0-14 years: 19% (male 14,224,033; female 13,666,440) 15-64 years: 68% (male 48,407,409; female 51,768,664) 65 years and over: 13% (male 5,698,356; female 12,628,667) (1999 est.)
Birth rate
9.64 births/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Death rate
14.96 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.)
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%
Infant mortality rate
23 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.)
Languages
Russian, other
Life expectancy at birth
total population: 65.12 years male: 58.83 years female: 71.72 years (1999 est.)
Literacy
definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 98% male: 100% female: 97% (1989 est.)
Nationality
noun: Russian(s) adjective: Russian
Net migration rate
2.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.)
Population
146,393,569 (July 1999 est.)
Population growth rate
-0.33% (1999 est.)
Religions
Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other
Sex ratio
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.45 male(s)/female total population: 0.88 male(s)/female (1999 est.)
Total fertility rate
1.34 children born/woman (1999 est.)
Government
Administrative divisions
oblasts (oblastey, singular--oblast'), 21 autonomous republics* (avtonomnyk respublik, singular--avtonomnaya 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)*, Kaluzkskaya, 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 note: the autonomous republics of Chechnya and Ingushetiya were formerly the autonomous republic of Checheno-Ingushetia (the boundary between Chechnya and Ingushetia has yet to be determined); administrative divisions have the same names as their administrative centers (exceptions have the administrative center name following in parentheses)
Capital
Moscow
Constitution
adopted 12 December 1993
Country name
conventional long form: Russian Federation conventional short form: Russia local long form: Rossiyskaya Federatsiya local short form: Rossiya former: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
Data code
RS
Executive branch
chief of state: President Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN (since 12 June 1991) head of government: Premier Yevgeniy Maksimovich PRIMAKOV (since 11 September 1998), First Deputy Premiers Yuriy Dmitriyevich MASLYUKOV (since 11 September 1998) and Vadim Anatol'yevich GUSTOV (since 11 September 1998); Deputy Premiers Vladimir Broisovich BULGAK (since 11 September 1998), Gennadiy Vasil'yevich KULIK (since 11 September 1998), and Valentin Ivanovna MATVIYENKO (since 11 September 1998) cabinet: Ministries of the Government or "Government" composed of the premier and his deputies, ministers, and other agency heads; 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; election last held 16 June 1996 with runoff election on 3 July 1996 (next to be held NA June 2000); note--no vice president; if the president dies in office, cannot exercise his powers because of ill health, is impeached, or resigns, the premier succeeds him; the premier serves as acting president until a new presidential election is held, which must be within three months; premier and deputy premiers appointed by the president with the approval of the Duma election results: Boris Nikolayevich YEL'TSIN elected president; percent of vote in runoff--YEL'TSIN 54%, Gennadiy Andreyevich ZYUGANOV 40%
Flag description
three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red
Government type
federation
Independence
24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
International organization participation
APEC, BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MONUA, MTCR, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNOMIG, UNOMSIL, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant), ZC Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Yuliy Mikhaylovich VORONTSOV chancery: 2650 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 consulate(s) general: New York, San Francisco, and Seattle Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador James F. COLLINS embassy: Novinskiy Bul'var 19/23, Moscow mailing address: APO AE 09721 consulate(s) general: St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
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: YAVLINSKIY]; Pravoye Delo (Just Cause), a coalition of reformist, Borisovich CHUBAYS, Boris Yefimovich NEMTSOV, Sergey Vladlenovich KIRIYENKO] anti-market and/or ultranationalist: Communist Party of the Russian BARKASHOV] note: some 150 political parties, blocs, and movements registered with the Justice Ministry as of the 19 December 1998 deadline to be eligible to participate in the scheduled December 1999 Duma elections; in 1995, 43 political organizations qualified to run slates of candidates on the Duma party list ballot; among the parties not listed above but holding seats in the Duma were Russia's Democratic Choice, Power To the People, Congress of Russian Communities, Forward, Russia!, and Women of Russia Political pressure groups and leaders: NA
Legal system
based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts
Legislative branch
bicameral Federal Assembly or Federal'noye 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 St. Petersburg; members serve four-year terms) and the State Duma or Gosudarstvennaya Duma (450 seats, half elected in single-member districts and half elected from national party lists; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms) elections: State Duma--last held 17 December 1995 (next to be held NA December 1999) election results: State Duma--percent of vote received by parties clearing the 5% threshold entitling them to a proportional share of the 225 party list seats--Communist Party of the Russian Federation 22.3%, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 11.2%, Our Home Is Russia 10.1%, Yabloko Bloc 6.9%; seats by party--Communist Party of the Russian Federation 157, independents 78, Our Home Is Russia 55, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia 51, Yabloko Bloc 45, Agrarian Party of Russia 20, Russia's Democratic Choice 9, Power To the People 9, Congress of Russian Communities 5, Forward, Russia! 3, Women of Russia 3, other parties 15
National holiday
Independence Day, June 12 (1990)
Suffrage
18 years of age; universal
Economy
Agriculture--products
grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk
Budget
revenues: $40 billion expenditures: $63 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)
Currency
1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks
Debt--external
$164 billion (yearend 1998)
Economic aid--recipient
$8.523 billion (1995)
Economy--overview
Seven 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 43% since 1991, including a 5% drop in 1998, 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 were also passed, including a commercial code governing business relations and 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. Ongoing problems include an undeveloped legal and financial system, poor progress on restructuring the military-industrial complex, and persistently large budget deficits, largely reflecting the inability of successive governments to collect sufficient taxes. Russia's transition to a market economy has also been slowed by the growing prevalence of payment arrears and barter and by widespread corruption. The severity of Russia's economic problems is dramatized by the large annual decline in population, estimated by some observers at 800,000 people, caused by environmental hazards, the decline in health care, and the unwillingness of people to have children.
Electricity--consumption
788.036 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--exports
24.2 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--imports
6.6 billion kWh (1996)
Electricity--production
834 billion kWh (1997)
Electricity--production by source
fossil fuel: 68.14% hydro: 19% nuclear: 12.82% other: 0.04% (1997)
Exchange rates
rubles per US$1--22.2876 (January 1999), 9.7051 (1998), 5,785 (1997), 5,121 (1996), 4,559 (1995), 2,191 (1994) note: the post-1 January 1998 ruble is equal to 1,000 of the pre-1 January 1998 rubles
Exports
$71.8 billion (1998 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
Ukraine, Germany, US, Belarus, other Western and less developed countries
Fiscal year
calendar year
GDP
purchasing power parity--$593.4 billion (1998 est.)
GDP--composition by sector
agriculture: 7% industry: 39% services: 54% (1997)
GDP--per capita
purchasing power parity?$4,000 (1998 est.)
GDP--real growth rate
-5% (1998 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 3% highest 10%: 22.2% (1993)
Imports
$58.5 billion (1998 est.)
Imports--commodities
machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products
Imports--partners
Europe, North America, Japan, and less developed countries
Industrial production growth rate
-5.5% (1998 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; 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
Inflation rate (consumer prices)
84% (1998 est.)
Labor force
66 million (1997)
Labor force--by occupation
NA
Population below poverty line
28.6% (1998 est.)
Unemployment rate
11.5% (1998 est.) with considerable additional underemployment
Communications
Radio broadcast stations
AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA; note--there are about 1,050 (including AM, FM, and shortwave) radio broadcast stations throughout the country
Radios
50 million (1993 est.) (74.3 million radio receivers with multiple speaker systems for program diffusion)
Telephone system
the telephone system has undergone significant changes in the 1990's; there are more than 1,000 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 domestic: cross country digital trunk lines run from St. 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, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density international: Russia is connected internationally by three undersea fiber-optic cables; digital switches in several cities provide more than 50,000 lines for international calls; satellite earth stations provide access to Intelsat, Intersputnik, Eutelsat, Inmarsat, and Orbita
Telephones
23.8 million (1997 est.)
Television broadcast stations
11,000 (1996 est.)
Televisions
54.85 million (1992 est.)
Transportation
Airports
2,517 (1994 est.) Airports--with paved runways: total: 630 over 3,047 m: 54 2,438 to 3,047 m: 202 1,524 to 2,437 m: 108 914 to 1,523 m: 115 under 914 m: 151 (1994 est.) Airports--with unpaved runways: total: 1,887 over 3,047 m: 25 2,438 to 3,047 m: 45 1,524 to 2,437 m: 134 914 to 1,523 m: 291 under 914 m: 1,392 (1994 est.)
Highways
total: 948,000 km (including 416,000 km which serve specific industries or farms and are not maintained by governmental highway maintenance departments) paved: 336,000 km unpaved: 612,000 km (including 411,000 km of graveled or some other form of surfacing and 201,000 km of unstabilized earth) (1995 est.)
Merchant marine
total: 617 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 4,146,329 GRT/5,278,909 DWT ships by type: barge carrier 1, bulk 19, cargo 309, combination bulk 21, combination ore/oil 6, container 25, multifunction large-load carrier 1, oil tanker 149, passenger 35, passenger-cargo 3, refrigerated cargo 16, roll-on/roll-off cargo 25, short-sea passenger 7 (1998 est.)
Pipelines
crude oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural gas 140,000 km (June 1993 est.) Ports and harbors: Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Kaliningrad, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Sochi, Tuapse, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg
Railways
total: 150,000 km; note--87,000 km in common carrier service; 63,000 km serve specific industries and are not available for common carrier use broad gauge: 150,000 km 1.520-m gauge (January 1997 est.)
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.)
Military and Security
Military branches
Ground Forces, Navy, Air Forces, Strategic Rocket Forces note: the Air Defense Force merged into the Air Force in March 1998
Military expenditures--dollar figure
$NA note: the Intelligence Community estimates that defense spending in Russia fell by about 10% in real terms in 1996, reducing Russian defense outlays to about one-sixth of peak Soviet levels in the late 1980s (1997 est.)
Military expenditures--percent of GDP
NA%
Military manpower--availability
males age 15-49: 38,665,138 (1999 est.) Military manpower--fit for military service: males age 15-49: 30,173,495 (1999 est.)
Military manpower--military age
18 years of age
Military manpower--reaching military age annually
males: 1,149,536 (1999 est.)
Transnational Issues
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; Svalbard is the focus of a maritime boundary dispute in the Barents Sea between Norway and Russia
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