(CBS)
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities.
In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia.
Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household.
The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives.
The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics.
Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.
Source: CIA World Fact Book
(AP)
140,041,247 (July 2009 est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 14.8% (male 10,644,833/female 10,095,011) 15-64 years: 71.5% (male 48,004,040/female 52,142,313) 65 years and over: 13.7% (male 5,880,877/female 13,274,173) (2009 est.)
Median age: total: 38.4 years male: 35.2 years female: 41.6 years (2008 est.)
Population growth rate: -0.467% (2009 est.)
Birth rate: 11.03 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death rate: 16.06 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Net migration rate: 0.28 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009 est.)
Urbanization: urban population: 73% of total population (2008) rate of urbanization: -0.5% annual rate of change (2005-2010)
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.06 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.92 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.44 male(s)/female total population: 0.86 male(s)/female (2009 est.)
Infant mortality rate: total: 10.56 deaths/1,000 live births male: 12.08 deaths/1,000 live births female: 8.94 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.)
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 66.03 years male: 59.33 years female: 73.14 years (2009 est.)
Total fertility rate: 1.41 children born/woman (2009 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.1% (2007 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 940,000 (2007 est.) HIV/AIDS - deaths: 40,000 (2007 est.)
Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: intermediate food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea and hepatitis A vectorborne disease: Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever and tickborne encephalitis note: highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza has been identified in this country; it poses a negligible risk with extremely rare cases possible among US citizens who have close contact with birds (2008)
Nationality: noun: Russian(s) adjective: Russian
Ethnic groups: Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)
Religions: Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) 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: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 99.4% male: 99.7% female: 99.2% (2002 census)
School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education): total: 14 years male: 13 years female: 14 years (2006)
Education expenditures: 3.8% of GDP (2005)
(AP)
Russia ended 2008 with GDP growth of 6.0%, following 10 straight years of growth averaging 7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Over the last six years, fixed capital investment growth and personal income growth have averaged above 10%, but both grew at slower rates in 2008.
Growth in 2008 was driven largely by non-tradable services and domestic manufacturing, rather than exports. During the past decade, poverty and unemployment declined steadily and the middle class continued to expand. Russia also improved its international financial position, running balance of payments surpluses since 2000.
Foreign exchange reserves grew from $12 billion in 1999 to almost $600 billion by end July 2008, which include $200 billion in two sovereign wealth funds: a reserve fund to support budgetary expenditures in case of a fall in the price of oil and a national welfare fund to help fund pensions and infrastructure development. Total foreign debt is approximately one-third of GDP. The state component of foreign debt has declined, but commercial short-term debt to foreigners has risen strongly. These positive trends began to reverse in the second half of 2008. Investor concerns over the Russia-Georgia conflict, corporate governance issues, and the global credit crunch in September caused the Russian stock market to fall by roughly 70%, primarily due to margin calls that were difficult for many Russian companies to meet.
The global crisis also affected Russia's banking system, which faced liquidity problems. Moscow responded quickly in early October 2008, initiating a rescue plan of over $200 billion that was designed to increase liquidity in the financial sector, to help firms refinance foreign debt, and to support the stock market.
The government also unveiled a $20 billion tax cut plan and other safety nets for society and industry. Meanwhile, a 70% drop in the price of oil since mid-July further exacerbated imbalances in external accounts and the federal budget. In mid-November, mini-devaluations of the currency by the Central Bank caused increased capital flight and froze domestic credit markets, resulting in growing unemployment, wage arrears, and a severe drop in production.
Foreign exchange reserves dropped to around $435 billion by end 2008, as the Central Bank defended an overvalued ruble. In the first year of his term, President MEDVEDEV outlined a number of economic priorities for Russia including improving infrastructure, innovation, investment, and institutions; reducing the state's role in the economy; reforming the tax system and banking sector; developing one of the biggest financial centers in the world, combating corruption, and improving the judiciary.
The Russian government needs to diversify the economy further, as energy and other raw materials still dominate Russian export earnings and federal budget receipts. Russia's infrastructure requires large investments and must be replaced or modernized if the country is to achieve broad-based economic growth. Corruption, lack of trust in institutions, and more recently, exchange rate uncertainty and the global economic crisis continue to dampen domestic and foreign investor sentiment.
Russia has made some progress in building the rule of law, the bedrock of a modern market economy, but much work remains on judicial reform. Moscow continues to seek accession to the WTO and has made some progress, but its timeline for entry into the organization continues to slip, and the negotiating atmosphere has soured in the wake of the Georgia and global economic crises.
GDP (purchasing power parity): $2.225 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP (official exchange rate): $1.757 trillion (2008 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 6% (2008 est.)
GDP - per capita (PPP): $15,800 (2008 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 4.1% industry: 41.1% services: 54.8% (2007 est.)
Labor force: 75.7 million (2008 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 10.2% industry: 27.4% services: 62.4% (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate: 6.2% (2008 est.) Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.9% highest 10%: 30.4% (September 2007)
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 41.5 (September 2008)
Investment (gross fixed): 24.7% of GDP (2007 est.)
Budget: revenues: $383.5 billion expenditures: $273.5 billion (2008 est.)
Public debt: 6.8% of GDP (2008 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 13.9% (2008 est.)
Central bank discount rate: 13% (31 December 2008)
Commercial bank prime lending rate: 13% (31 December 2008)
Stock of money: $166.4 billion (October 2008)
Stock of quasi money: $343 billion (October 2008)
Stock of domestic credit: $503.7 billion (1 October 2008)
Market value of publicly traded shares: $450 billion (15 December 2008 est.)
Agriculture - products: grain, sugar beets, sunflower seed, vegetables, fruits; beef, milk
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
Industrial production growth rate: 1.9% (2008 est.)
Electricity - production: 1.016 trillion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - consumption: 1.003 trillion kWh (2006 est.)
Electricity - exports: 18.6 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Electricity - imports: 6 billion kWh (2007 est.)
Oil - production: 9.98 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - consumption: 2.699 million bbl/day (2007 est.)
Oil - exports: 5.17 million bbl/day (2007)
Oil - imports: 54,000 bbl/day (2005)
Oil - proved reserves: 79 billion bbl (1 January 2008 est.)
Natural gas - production: 654 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 481 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 173 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 68.2 billion cu m (2007 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 44.65 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)
Current account balance: $97.6 billion (2008 est.)
Exports: $476 billion (2008 est.)
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: Netherlands 12.2%, Italy 7.8%, Germany 7.5%, Turkey 5.2%, Belarus 5%, Ukraine 4.7%, China 4.5% (2007)
Imports: $302 billion (2008 est.)
Imports - commodities: vehicles, machinery and equipment, plastics, medicines, iron and steel, consumer goods, meat, fruits and nuts, semifinished metal products
Imports - partners: Germany 13.3%, China 12.2%, Ukraine 6.7%, Japan 6.4%, US 4.8%, Belarus 4.4%, South Korea 4.4%, Italy 4.3% (2007)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $435.4 billion (12 December 2008)
Debt - external: $527.1 billion (June 2008 est.)
Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: $491.2 billion (2007)
Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: $370.2 billion (2007)
Exchange rates: Russian rubles (RUB) per US dollar - 24.3 (2008 est.), 25.659 (2007), 27.19 (2006), 28.284 (2005), 28.814 (2004)
Soviet Union Breakup
Russian Terror
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
