Population and Demographics

Despite its comparatively high population, Russia has a low average population density due to its enormous size. Population is densest in the European part of Russia, in the Ural Mountains area, and in the south-western parts of Siberia; the south-eastern part of Siberia that meets the Pacific Ocean, known as the Russian Far East, is sparsely populated, with its southern part being densest.

The Russian Federation is home to as many as 160 different ethnic groups and indigenous peoples. According to the latest figures, 79.8% of the population is ethnically Russian, 3.8% Tatar, 2% Ukrainian, 1.2% Bashkir, 1.1% Chuvash, 0.9% Chechen, 0.8% Armenian. The remaining 10.3% includes those who did not specify their ethnicity as well as (in alphabetical order) Assyrians, Avars, Azeris, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Buryats, Chinese, Cossacks, Estonians, Evenks, Finns, Georgians, Germans, Greeks, Ingushes, Inuit, Jews, Kalmyks, Karelians, Kazakhs, Koreans, Kyrgyz, Lithuanians, Latvians, Maris, Mongolians, Mordvins, Nenetses, Ossetians, Poles, Romanians, Tajiks, Tuvans, Turkmen, Udmurts, Uzbeks, Yakuts, and others. Nearly all of these groups live compactly in their respective regions; Russians and to a lesser extent Tatars are the only people significantly represented in every region of the country.

The Russian language is the only official state language, but the individual republics have often made their native language co-official next to Russian. The Cyrillic alphabet is the only official script, which means that these languages must be written in Cyrillic in official texts.

Russian Orthodoxy is the dominant religion in the Federation. Islam is the second most widespread religion, predominating in the Volga region and Caucasus. Other religions include various Protestant churches, Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Buddhism. Induction into religion takes place primarily along ethnic lines. Ethnic Russians are mainly Orthodox whereas most people of Turkic and Caucasian extraction are Sunni Muslim. Kalmyks are the only predominantly Buddhist people in Europe. However, due to decades of suppression of religion during Soviet times, religious adherence remains nominal for most of the population.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 141,377,752
• 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)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 38.2 years
  • Male: 35 years
  • Female: 41.3 years
• Population Growth Rate: -0.484%
• Birth Rate: 10.92 births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 16.04 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: 0.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.054 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.456 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 0.859 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 11.06 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 12.6 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 9.42 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 65.87 years
  • Male: 59.12 years
  • Female: 73.03 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 1.39 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: 1.1%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: 860,000
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Russian 79.8%
  • Tatar 3.8%
  • Ukrainian 2%
  • Bashkir 1.2%
  • Chuvash 1.1%
  • Other or unspecified 12.1%
• Religions:
  • Russian Orthodox 15-20%
  • Muslim 10-15%
  • Other Christian 2%
    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
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 99.4%
  • Male: 99.7%
  • Female: 99.2%