Russia straddles Europe and Asia with the Arctic Ocean to the north and the northern Pacific Ocean to the east.
Russia is the largest country in the world, 1.8 times the size of the United States. Although 77 percent of Russia is in Asia, 74 percent of its population is in Europe. Russia shares borders with many countries: Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Norway, Poland, and Ukraine.
Russia has a federation style of government with the president elected by popular vote to a four year term with eligibility for a second term. There is no vice president; in the event the president is unable to serve, the premier becomes acting president until new elections can be held. The capital of Russia is Moscow. The currency is the ruble.
The July 2006 estimate of the population was 142,893,540. Russia has a negative population growth possibly due to a low birth rate. The current life expectancy of Russians is 67.08 years with women outliving men by almost 14 years.
Russian is the principal language although there are many minority languages. Russia has a very high literacy rate: 99.6 percent of people over the age of 15 can read and write. The largest religious segments are Russian Orthodox and Muslim; however, there is a very large number of the population (over 60 percent) who are non-practicing believers or non-believers - a holdover from Soviet rule.
Although Russia has many natural resources, they are primarily located in inhospitable regions of the country, notably Siberia.
Web Sites
- CIA: The World Factbook
- U.S. Department of State
- Library of Congress Country Studies
- BBC News Country Profile
- Russia.com
Catalog
Search the library's catalog for Russia: Description and Travel.
Databases
Enter Russia or Soviet Union in these databases: