Land area:6,592,812 sq mi (17,075,400 sq km);
Total area:6,592,735 sq mi (17,075,200 sq km)
Population (2008 est.):140,041,247 (growth rate: –0.5%); birth rate: 11.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 10.5/1000; life expectancy: 66.0; density per sq mi: 21
Capital (2003 est.):Moscow, 10,672,000 (metro. area), 10,101,500 (city proper)
Other largest citiesSt. Petersburg, 4,582,300; Novosibirsk, 1,395,500; Nizhny Novgorod, 1,340,900; Yekaterinburg, 1,256,600; Samara, 1,146,800; Kazan, 1,113,600; Ufa, 1,096,600; Chelyabinsk, 1,080,000; Perm, 998,800; Volgograd, 984,200
Monetary unit: Russian ruble (RUR)

Rossiyskaya Federatsiya
Current government officials
Languages: Russian, many minority languages
Ethnicity/race: Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002)
Religions: Russian Orthodox 15%–20%, other Christian 2%, Islam 10%–15% (2006 est.; includes practicing worshippers only)
Literacy rate:100% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2007 est.): $2.088 trillion; per capita $14,700. Real growth rate: 8.1%. Inflation: 11.9%. Unemployment: 6.2%. Arable land: 7%. Agriculture: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk. Labor force: 75.1 million; agriculture 4.6%, industry 39.1%, services 56.3% (2007 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; 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. 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. Exports: $365 billion (2007 est.): petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures. Imports: $260.4 billion (2007 est.): machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, sugar, semifinished metal products. Major trading partners: Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, China, U.S., Switzerland, Turkey, Japan, Kazakhstan, France (2004).