Informazioni sulla Russia (Fonte: CIA -- The World Factbook 1999) |
[Top] Background: Russia, a vast Eurasian expanse of field, forest, desert, and tundra, has endured many "times of trouble"the Mongol rule of the 13th to 15th century; czarist reigns of terror; massive invasions by Swedes, French, and Germans; and the deadly communist period (1917-91) in which Russia dominated an immense Soviet Union. General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV, in charge during 1985-91, introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism, but also inadvertently released forces that shattered the USSR into 15 independent republics in December 1991. Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the communist period. These reform efforts have resulted in contradictory and confusing economic and political regulations and practices. Industry, agriculture, the military, the central government, and the ruble have suffered, but Russia has successfully held one presidential, two legislative, and numerous regional elections since 1991. The severe illnesses of President Boris YEL'TSIN have contributed to a lack of policy focus at the center. |
[Top] Location: Northern Asia (that part west of the Urals is sometimes included with Europe), bordering the Arctic Ocean, between Europe and the North Pacific Ocean Geographic coordinates: 60 00 N, 100 00 E Map references: Asia Area: Areacomparative: slightly less than 1.8 times the size of the US Land boundaries: Coastline: 37,653 km Maritime claims: 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 Terrain: broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions Elevation extremes:
Natural resources:
wide natural resource base including major deposits of
oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals,
timber Land use: Irrigated land: 40,000 sq km (1993 est.) 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 Environmentcurrent issues: air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and sea coasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination Environmentinternational
agreements: Geographynote: largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture |
[Top] Population: 146,393,569 (July 1999 est.) Age structure: Population growth rate: -0.33% (1999 est.) Birth rate: 9.64 births/1,000 population (1999 est.) Death rate: 14.96 deaths/1,000 population (1999 est.) Net migration rate: 2.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1999 est.) Sex ratio: Infant mortality rate: 23 deaths/1,000 live births (1999 est.) Life expectancy at
birth: Total fertility rate: 1.34 children born/woman (1999 est.) Nationality: Ethnic groups: Russian 81.5%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 3%, Chuvash 1.2%, Bashkir 0.9%, Byelorussian 0.8%, Moldavian 0.7%, other 8.1% Religions: Russian Orthodox, Muslim, other Languages: Russian, other Literacy: |
[Top] Country name: Data code: RS Government type: federation Capital: Moscow Administrative
divisions: oblasts (oblastey, singularoblast'),
21 autonomous republics* (avtonomnyk respublik, singularavtonomnaya
respublika), 10 autonomous okrugs**(avtonomnykh okrugov,
singularavtonomnyy okrug), 6 krays*** (krayev,
singularkray), 2 federal cities (singulargorod)****,
and 1 autonomous oblast*****(avtonomnaya oblast');
Adygeya (Maykop)*, Aginskiy Buryatskiy (Aginskoye)**,
Altay (Gorno-Altaysk)*, Altayskiy (Barnaul)***, Amurskaya
(Blagoveshchensk), Arkhangel'skaya, Astrakhanskaya,
Bashkortostan (Ufa)*, Belgorodskaya, Bryanskaya,
Buryatiya (Ulan-Ude)*, Chechnya (Groznyy)*,
Chelyabinskaya, Chitinskaya, Chukotskiy (Anadyr')**,
Chuvashiya (Cheboksary)*, Dagestan (Makhachkala)*,
Evenkiyskiy (Tura)**, Ingushetiya (Nazran')*, Irkutskaya,
Ivanovskaya, Kabardino-Balkariya (Nal'chik)*,
Kaliningradskaya, Kalmykiya (Elista)*, Kaluzkskaya,
Kamchatskaya (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy), Karachayevo-Cherkesiya
(Cherkessk)*, Kareliya (Petrozavodsk)*, Kemerovskaya,
Khabarovskiy***, Khakasiya (Abakan)*, Khanty-Mansiyskiy (Khanty-Mansiysk)**,
Kirovskaya, Komi (Syktyvkar)*, Koryakskiy (Palana)**,
Kostromskaya, Krasnodarskiy***, Krasnoyarskiy***,
Kurganskaya, Kurskaya, Leningradskaya, Lipetskaya,
Magadanskaya, Mariy-El (Yoshkar-Ola)*, Mordoviya (Saransk)*,
Moskovskaya, Moskva (Moscow)****, Murmanskaya, Nenetskiy
(Nar'yan-Mar)**, Nizhegorodskaya, Novgorodskaya,
Novosibirskaya, Omskaya, Orenburgskaya, Orlovskaya (Orel),
Penzenskaya, Permskaya, Komi-Permyatskiy (Kudymkar)**,
Primorskiy (Vladivostok)***, Pskovskaya, Rostovskaya,
Ryazanskaya, Sakha (Yakutsk)*, Sakhalinskaya (Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk),
Samarskaya, Sankt-Peterburg (Saint Petersburg)****,
Saratovskaya, Severnaya Osetiya-Alaniya (Vladikavkaz)*,
Smolenskaya, Stavropol'skiy***, Sverdlovskaya (Yekaterinburg),
Tambovskaya, Tatarstan (Kazan')*, Taymyrskiy (Dudinka)**,
Tomskaya, Tul'skaya, Tverskaya, Tyumenskaya, Tyva (Kyzyl)*,
Udmurtiya (Izhevsk)*, Ul'yanovskaya, Ust'-Ordynskiy
Buryatskiy (Ust'-Ordynskiy)**, Vladimirskaya,
Volgogradskaya, Vologodskaya, Voronezhskaya, Yamalo-Nenetskiy
(Salekhard)**, Yaroslavskaya, Yevreyskaya*****; notewhen
using a place name with an adjectival ending 'skaya' or 'skiy,'
the word Oblast' or Avonomnyy Okrug or Kray should be
added to the place name Independence: 24 August 1991 (from Soviet Union) National holiday: Independence Day, June 12 (1990) Constitution: adopted 12 December 1993 Legal system: based on civil law system; judicial review of legislative acts Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal Executive branch:
Legislative branch:
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 unitsoblasts, 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) Judicial branch: Constitutional Court, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president; Supreme Court, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president; Superior Court of Arbitration, judges are appointed for life by the Federation Council on the recommendation of the president Political parties and
leaders: Political pressure groups and leaders: NA International organization participation: APEC, BIS, BSEC, CBSS, CCC, CE, CERN (observer), CIS, EAPC, EBRD, ECE, ESCAP, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Inmarsat, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM (observer), ISO, ITU, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, MONUA, MTCR, NSG, OAS (observer), OPCW, OSCE, PCA, PFP, UN, UN Security Council, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNIKOM, UNITAR, UNMIBH, UNMOP, UNOMIG, UNOMSIL, UNPREDEP, UNTSO, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTrO (applicant), ZC Diplomatic
representation in the US: Diplomatic
representation from the US: Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of white (top), blue, and red |
[Top] Economyoverview: 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 diversealthough increasingly dilapidatedindustrial 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. GDP: purchasing power parity$593.4 billion (1998 est.) GDPreal growth rate: -5% (1998 est.) GDPper capita: purchasing power parity$4,000 (1998 est.) GDPcomposition
by sector: Population below poverty line: 28.6% (1998 est.) Household income or
consumption by percentage share: Inflation rate (consumer prices): 84% (1998 est.) Labor force: 66 million (1997) Labor forceby occupation: NA Unemployment rate: 11.5% (1998 est.) with considerable additional underemployment Budget: 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 production growth rate: -5.5% (1998 est.) Electricityproduction: 834 billion kWh (1997) Electricityproduction
by source: Electricityconsumption: 788.036 billion kWh (1996) Electricityexports: 24.2 billion kWh (1996) Electricityimports: 6.6 billion kWh (1996) Agricultureproducts: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk Exports: $71.8 billion (1998 est.) Exportscommodities: petroleum and petroleum products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, and a wide variety of civilian and military manufactures Exportspartners: Ukraine, Germany, US, Belarus, other Western and less developed countries Imports: $58.5 billion (1998 est.) Importscommodities: machinery and equipment, consumer goods, medicines, meat, grain, sugar, semifinished metal products Importspartners: Europe, North America, Japan, and less developed countries Debtexternal: $164 billion (yearend 1998) Economic aidrecipient: $8.523 billion (1995) Currency: 1 ruble (R) = 100 kopeks Exchange rates:
rubles per US$122.2876 (January 1999), 9.7051 (1998),
5,785 (1997), 5,121 (1996), 4,559 (1995), 2,191 (1994) Fiscal year: calendar year |
[Top] Telephones: 23.8 million (1997 est.) Telephone system:
the telephone system has undergone significant changes in
the 1990's; there are more than 1,000 companies licensed
to offer communication services; access to digital lines
has improved, particularly in urban centers; Internet and
e-mail services are improving; Russia has made progress
toward building the telecommunications infrastructure
necessary for a market economy Radio broadcast stations: AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA; notethere are about 1,050 (including AM, FM, and shortwave) radio broadcast stations throughout the country Radios: 50 million (1993 est.) (74.3 million radio receivers with multiple speaker systems for program diffusion) Television broadcast stations: 11,000 (1996 est.) Televisions: 54.85 million (1992 est.) |
[Top] Railways: Highways: Waterways: total navigable routes in general use 101,000 km; routes with navigation guides serving the Russian River Fleet 95,900 km; routes with night navigational aids 60,400 km; man-made navigable routes 16,900 km (January 1994 est.) Pipelines: crude oil 48,000 km; petroleum products 15,000 km; natural gas 140,000 km (June 1993 est.) Ports and harbors: Arkhangel'sk, Astrakhan', Kaliningrad, Kazan', Khabarovsk, Kholmsk, Krasnoyarsk, Moscow, Murmansk, Nakhodka, Nevel'sk, Novorossiysk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Sochi, Tuapse, Vladivostok, Volgograd, Vostochnyy, Vyborg Merchant marine: Airports: 2,517 (1994 est.) Airportswith
paved runways: Airportswith
unpaved runways: |
[Top] Military branches: Ground
Forces, Navy, Air Forces, Strategic Rocket Forces Military manpowermilitary age: 18 years of age Military manpoweravailability:
Military manpowerfit
for military service: Military manpowerreaching
military age annually: Military expendituresdollar
figure: $NA Military expenditurespercent of GDP: NA% |
[Top] Disputesinternational:
dispute over at least two small sections of the boundary
with China remain to be settled, despite 1997 boundary
agreement; islands of Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan
and the Habomai group occupied by the Soviet Union in
1945, now administered by Russia, claimed by Japan;
Caspian Sea boundaries are not yet determined among
Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan;
Estonian and Russian negotiators reached a technical
border agreement in December 1996 which has not been
ratified; draft treaty delimiting the boundary with
Latvia has not been signed; has made no territorial claim
in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and
does not recognize the claims of any other nation; 1997
border agreement with Lithuania not yet ratified;
Svalbard is the focus of a maritime boundary dispute in
the Barents Sea between Norway and Russia |
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