Facts about Russia
Country Name
Russia
Official Name
Rossiiskaya Federatsiya (The Russian Federation)
Form of State
Federal state with republican form of government
Head of State
President Vladimir Putin
Head of Government
Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov
Area
17,075,000 square kilometers (6, 590,950 square miles)
Even after the breakup of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s, Russia is still the largest
country in the world by far, with Canada coming in second at 9,976,140 square kilometers.
Capital City
Moscow
Time Zones
Since Russia is so large, it covers nine time zones from GMT plus three hours
(for example the St. Petersburg and Moscow areas) to GMT plus twelve hours
(for example Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky)
Population
147 million according to a 1999 estimate
Ethnic Make-up
Russian (82 %), Tatar (4%) and Ukrainians (3%)
Religions
The majority of Russians are Christian, mainly Russian Orthodox.
Under communist rule, religion was not forbidden, but discouraged.
Since the fall of communism, interest in religion is growing steeply.
The Russian Orthodox Christmas was made an official holiday for the first time in 1991.
There is also sizeable Muslim (12 million) and Jewish (700,000) minorities.
Official Language
Russian
There are also many local ethnic languages spoken, but Russian is spoken throughout the country.
Russian and most of the local languages are written in variants of the Cyrillic alphabet.
Currency
New rouble (R)
Exchange Rate
R27.64 per US$ (July 2000)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
US$200 billion (1999)
GDP Per Capita
US$1,377 (1999)
Exports
US$73 billion (1999); US$49.1 billion (first half of 2000)
Imports
US$52 billion (1999); US$29 billion (first half of 2000)
Foreign Debt
US$177 billion (1999)
Tourism Receipts
US$7.1 billion (1999 estimate)
Number of Visitors
15.8 million (1998)
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