"O country mine! You are like good health:
How much one should prize you, he only can tell
Who has lost you."
Quotation from Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz, one of the greatest Polish Romantic poets of the 19th century

Area: total: 17,075,200 sq km (approximately 1.8 times the size of the US). 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.
Land boundaries: 20,096.5 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.
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caspian Sea -28 m, highest point: Gora El'brus 5,633 m
Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber
Land use: arable land: 7.17%, permanent crops: 0.11%, other: 92.72% (2005)
Irrigated land: 46,000 sq km (2003)
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.
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: 141,377,752 (July 2007 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 14.6% (male 10,563,567/female 10,021,316); 15-64 years: 71.1% (male 48,412,612/female 52,061,604); 65 years and over: 14.4% (male 6,360,038/female 13,958,615) (2007 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.484% (2007 est.)
Birth rate: 10.92 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Death rate: 16.04 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) Infant mortality rate: total: 11.06 deaths/1,000 live births
Net migration rate: 0.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
Sex ratio: 0.859 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 65.87 years, male: 59.12 years, female: 73.03 years (2007 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.39 children born/woman (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS: 1.1% or 860,000 (2001 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 9,000 (2001 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, over 150 minority languages
Literacy: total population: 99.4%, male: 99.7%, female: 99.2% (2002 census)
Government type: federation
Capital: Moscow
Time difference: UTC+3 (8 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time). Daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October. Note: Russia is divided into 11 time zones
Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union)
Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993
Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction.
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Economy - overview: Russia ended 2007 with its ninth straight year of growth, averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Although high oil prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003 consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role. Over the last six years, fixed capital investments have averaged real gains greater than 10% per year and personal incomes have achieved real gains more than 12% per year. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand. Russia has also improved its international financial position since the 1998 financial crisis. The federal budget has run surpluses since 2001 and ended 2007 with a surplus of 6% of GDP. Over the past several years, Russia has used its stabilization fund based on oil taxes to prepay all Soviet-era sovereign debt to Paris Club creditors and the IMF. Foreign debt has decreased to 31% of GDP, mainly due to decreasing state debt, although commercial debt to foreigners has risen strongly. Oil export earnings have allowed Russia to increase its foreign reserves from $12 billion in 1999 to some $470 billion at yearend 2007, the third largest reserves in the world. During PUTIN's first administration, a number of important reforms were implemented in the areas of tax, banking, labor, and land codes. These achievements have raised business and investor confidence in Russia's economic prospects, with foreign direct investment rising from $14.6 billion in 2005 to an estimated $30 billion in 2007. In 2007, Russia's GDP grew 7.4%, led by non-tradable services and goods for the domestic market, as opposed to oil or mineral extraction and exports. Rising inflation returned in the second half of 2007, driven largely by rising food costs, and reached 12% by year-end. Russia has signed a bilateral market access agreement with the US as a prelude to possible WTO entry, and its companies are involved in global merger and acquisition activity in the oil and gas, metals, and telecom sectors. Despite Russia's recent success, serious problems persist. Oil, natural gas, metals, and timber account for more than 80% of exports and 30% of government revenues, leaving the country vulnerable to swings in world commodity prices. Russia's manufacturing base is dilapidated and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. The banking system, while increasing consumer lending and growing at a high rate, is still small relative to the banking sectors of Russia's emerging market peers. Political uncertainties, corruption, and widespread lack of trust in institutions continue to dampen domestic and foreign investor sentiment. President PUTIN has granted more influence to forces within his government that desire to reassert state control over the economy. Russia has made little progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy. The government has promised additional legislation to make its intellectual property protection WTO-consistent, but enforcement remains problematic.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.076 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $1.251 trillion (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 7.4% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $14,600 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4.6%, industry: 39.1%, services: 56.3% (2007 est.)
Labor force: 72.4 million (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate: 7% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line: 17.6% (2004)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9% annual average, note: 12% at year-end (2007 est.)
Budget: revenues: $341.7 billion, expenditures: $243.6 billion (2007 est.)
Public debt: 7% of GDP (2007 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, 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, 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.
Industrial production growth rate: 6.5% (2007 est.)
Exports: $348.9 billion (2007 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 12.3%, Italy 8.6%, Germany 8.4%, China 5.4%, Ukraine 5.1%, Turkey 4.9%, Switzerland 4.1% (2006)
Imports: $226.5 billion (2007 est.)
Imports - partners: Germany 13.9%, China 9.7%, Ukraine 7%, Japan 5.9%, South Korea 5.1%, US 4.8%, France 4.4%, Italy 4.3% (2006)
Economic aid - recipient: $1.322 billion in FY01 from US, $979 million (including $750 million in non-proliferation subsidies); in 2001 from EU, $200 million (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $470 billion (31 December 2007 est.)
Debt - external: $384.8 billion (30 June 2007)
Exchange rates: Russian rubles (RUS) per US dollar - 25.659 (2007)
Telephone system: general assessment: the telephone system is experiencing significant changes; 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; the estimated number of mobile subscribers jumped from fewer than 1 million in 1998 to 150 million in 2006; a large demand for main line service remains unsatisfied, but fixed-line operators continue to grow their services. 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, the telephone services are still outdated, inadequate, and low density. International: country code - 7; Russia is connected internationally by 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 systems.
Internet country code: .ru; note - Russia also has responsibility for a legacy domain ".su" that was allocated to the Soviet Union, and whose legal status and ownership are contested by the Russian Government, ICANN, and several Russian commercial entities.
Internet hosts: 2.844 million (2007)
Internet users: 25.689 million (2006)
Transportation
Airports: 1,260 (2007). Airports - with paved runways: 601. Airports - with unpaved runways: 659. Heliports: 47 (2007)
Railways: 87,157 km, broad gauge: 86,200 km 1.520-m gauge (40,300 km electrified), narrow gauge: 957 km 1.067-m gauge (on Sakhalin Island)
note: an additional 30,000 km of non-common carrier lines serve industries (2006)
Roadways: 871,000 km, paved: 738,000 km (includes 29,000 km of expressways), unpaved: 133,000 km, note: includes public and departmental roads (2004)
Waterways: 102,000 km (including 33,000 km with guaranteed depth). Note: 72,000 km system in European Russia links Baltic Sea, White Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Azov, and Black Sea (2006). Merchant marine: 1,130 ships (1000 GRT or over) 4,712,349 GRT/5,747,083 DWT; by type: bulk carrier 28, cargo 718, carrier 2, chemical tanker 27, combination ore/oil 35, container 10, passenger 15, passenger/cargo 8, petroleum tanker 215, refrigerated cargo 51, roll on/roll off 14, specialized tanker 7. Ports and terminals: Azov, Kaliningrad, Kavkaz, Nakhodka, Novorossiysk, Primorsk, Saint Petersburg, Vostochnyy.
Military branches: Ground Forces (SV), Navy (VMF), Air Forces (Voyenno-Vozdushniye Sily, VVS); Airborne Troops (VDV), Strategic Rocket Troops (RVSN), and Space Troops (KV) are independent "combat arms," not subordinate to any of the three branches; Russian Ground Forces include the following combat arms: motorized-rifle troops, tank troops, missile and artillery troops, air defense of ground troops (2007)
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; service obligation - 1 year; reserve obligation to age 50; foreign citizens and dual-nationality Russians are precluded from contract military service
note: Russia has adopted a mixed conscript-contract force; 30% of Russian army personnel were contract servicemen at the end of 2005; planning calls for volunteer servicemen to compose 70% of armed forces by 2010 with the remaining servicemen consisting of conscripts; as of November 2006, the Armed Forces had more than 60 units manned with contract personnel totaling over 78,000 contract privates and sergeants; 88 Ministry of Defense units have been designated as permanent readiness units and are expected to become all-volunteer by the end of 2007; these include most air force, naval, and nuclear arms units, as well as all airborne and naval infantry units, most motorized rifle brigades, and all special forces detachments; all personnel on ships and submarines will be contract servicemen beginning in 2009; more than 92,000 females serve on active duty with the Russian Armed Forces (2007)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 35,247,049; females age 18-49: 35,986,426 (2005 est.)
Disputes - international: China and Russia have demarcated the once disputed islands at the Amur and Ussuri confluence and in the Argun River in accordance with the 2004 Agreement, ending their centuries-long border disputes; the sovereignty dispute over the islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan, and the Habomai group, known in Japan as the "Northern Territories" and in Russia as the "Southern Kurils," occupied by the Soviet Union in 1945, now administered by Russia, and claimed by Japan, remains the primary sticking point to signing a peace treaty formally ending World War II hostilities; Russia and Georgia agree on delimiting all but small, strategic segments of the land boundary and the maritime boundary; OSCE observers monitor volatile areas such as the Pankisi Gorge in the Akhmeti region and the Kodori Gorge in Abkhazia; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Russia signed equidistance boundaries in the Caspian seabed but the littoral states have no consensus on dividing the water column; Russia and Norway dispute their maritime limits in the Barents Sea and Russia's fishing rights beyond Svalbard's territorial limits within the Svalbard Treaty zone; various groups in Finland advocate restoration of Karelia (Kareliya) and other areas ceded to the Soviet Union following the Second World War but the Finnish Government asserts no territorial demands; in May 2005, Russia recalled its signatures to the 1996 border agreements with Estonia (1996) and Latvia (1997), when the two Baltic states announced issuance of unilateral declarations referencing Soviet occupation and ensuing territorial losses; Russia demands better treatment of ethnic Russians in Estonia and Latvia; Estonian citizen groups continue to press for realignment of the boundary based on the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the now divided ethnic Setu people and parts of the Narva region within Estonia; Lithuania and Russia committed to demarcating their boundary in 2006 in accordance with the land and maritime treaty ratified by Russia in May 2003 and by Lithuania in 1999; Lithuania operates a simplified transit regime for Russian nationals traveling from the Kaliningrad coastal exclave into Russia, while still conforming, as an EU member state with an EU external border, where strict Schengen border rules apply; preparations for the demarcation delimitation of land boundary with Ukraine have commenced; the dispute over the boundary between Russia and Ukraine through the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov remains unresolved despite a December 2003 framework agreement and on-going expert-level discussions; Kazakhstan and Russia boundary delimitation was ratified on November 2005; Russian Duma has not yet ratified 1990 Bering Sea Maritime Boundary Agreement with the US.
Refugees and internally displaced persons: IDPs: 25,000-180,000 (displacement from Chechnya and North Ossetia) (2006).
Trafficking in persons: Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for various purposes; it remains a significant source of women trafficked to over 50 countries for commercial sexual exploitation; Russia is also a transit and destination country for men and women trafficked from Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and North Korea to Central and Western Europe and the Middle East for purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation; internal trafficking remains a problem in Russia with women trafficked from rural areas to urban centers for commercial sexual exploitation, and men trafficked internally and from Central Asia for forced labor in the construction and agricultural industries; debt bondage is common among trafficking victims, and child sex tourism remains a concern
Tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - Russia is placed on the Tier 2 Watch List for a third consecutive year for its continued failure to show evidence of increasing efforts to combat trafficking, particularly in the area of victim protection and assistance.
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.

Information source: CIA: The World Fact Book. For more detailed and up-to-date information visit https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html