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|
General Details |
|
| President |
Mr.
Vladimir Putin |
| Capital |
Moscow |
| Area |
total
area: 17,075,200 sq km
land area:16,995,800 sq 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 |
| Natural
Resources |
Wide
natural resource base including major deposits
of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic
minerals, timber |
| Irrigated
land |
56,000
sq km |
| 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 |
| Environment-international
agreements |
party
to - Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen
Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic
Treaty, Climate Change, Endangered Species,
Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes,
Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber
83, Wetlands, Whaling; signed, but not
ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol,
Biodiversity, Law of the Sea |
| Population
& its structure |
146,861,022
(Approx.) |
| Birth
rate |
9.57
births/1,000 population (approx.) |
| Death
rate |
14.89
deaths/1,000 population (approx.) |
| Net
migration rate |
2.21
migrant(s)/1,000 population (approx.) |
| Sex
ratio |
at
birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.44 male(s)/female
(approx.) |
| Life
expectancy at birth |
total
population: 64.97 years
male: 58.61 years
female: 71.64 years (approx.) |
| Legislative
Body |
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) |
|
| Legislative
Body |
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) |
| Language |
Russian,
other |
| Religions |
Russian
Orthodox, Muslim, other |
| Literacy |
definition:
age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98%
male: 100%
female: 97% |
| Currency |
1
ruble (R) = 100 kopeks |
| Legal
System |
based
on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts |
| GDP:
Purchasing Power Parity |
-$593.4
billion (approx.) |
| GDP
- real growth rate |
-5%
(approx.)
 |
| GDP
- per capita |
purchasing
power parity-$4,000 (approx.) |
| GDP
- Composition by sector |
agriculture:
7%(approx.)
industry: 39% (approx.)
services: 54% (approx.) |
| 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. |
| Population
below poverty line |
28.6%
(approx.) |
| Household
income |
lowest
10%: 3%
highest 10%: 22.2% (approx.) |
| Inflation
rate (consumer prices) |
84%
(approx.) |
| 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 |
| Industrial
growth rate |
-5.5%
(approx.) |
| Agricultural
Products |
grain,
sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef,
milk |
| Exports |
$71.8
billion (approx.) |
| 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 |
| Imports |
$58.5
billion (approx.) |
| Imports-commodities |
machinery
and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain,
sugar, semifinished metal products |
| Imports-partners |
Europe,
North America, Japan, and less developed countries |
| Communication |
|
| Telephones
Systems |
24,400,000
telephones; 20,900,000 telephones in urban areas and
3,500,000 telephones in rural areas; of these, total
installed in homes 15,400,000; total pay phones for long
distant calls 34,100; about 164 telephones/1,000 persons;
Russia is enlisting foreign help, by means of joint
ventures, to speed up the modernization of its
telecommunications system; in 1992, only 661,000 new
telephones were installed compared with 855,000 in 1991,
and in 1992 the number of unsatisfied applications for
telephones reached 11,000,000; expanded access to
international E-mail service available via Sprint network;
the inadequacy of Russian telecommunications is a severe
handicap to the economy, especially with respect to
international connections
local: NMT-450 analog cellular telephone networks are
operational and growing in Moscow and St. Petersburg
intercity: intercity fiberoptic cable installation remains
limited
international: international traffic is handled by an
inadequate system of satellites, land lines, microwave
radio relay and outdated submarine cables; this traffic
passes through the international gateway switch in Moscow
which carries most of the international traffic for the
other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States;
a new Russian Raduga satellite will link Moscow and St.
Petersburg with Rome from whence calls will be relayed to
destinations in Europe and overseas; satellite earth
stations - INTELSAT, Intersputnik, Eutelsat (Moscow),
INMARSAT, Orbita |
| Radio
Broadcast stations |
AM
1,050, FM 1,050, shortwave 1,050 |
| Radios |
48.8
million (radio receivers with multiple speaker systems for
program diffusion 74,300,000) |
| Television
broadcast station |
7,183 |
| Televisions |
54.2
million |
| 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(approx)
|
| 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 (approx)
|
| 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 (approx) |
| Pipelines |
crude
oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural gas
140,000 km |
| 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, Russia owns 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 |
| Tax
Structure |
Tax
Structure
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General Section
