Russia Population, People, Languages and Religions

Russia Country Overview

Where is Russia located? Russia, which is also officially called ‘Russian Federation’, is located in northern Eurasia and is the country with the largest area on earth. Thanks to this fact, Russia is spread over 9 time zones. The time zone map divides countries according to their time difference from the world time into zones. In Russia they extend from east to west and the distance between the time there and official world time (UTC) increases towards the west. On the one hand there is the Eastern European Time, which is 2 hours before the Universal time (UTC+2) Second there is Moscow time, which covers most of European Russia and is 3 hours ahead of world time Third is Yekaterinburg time which is 5 hours ahead of world time Then there is Omsk time with 6 hours and the Krasnoyarsk time with 7.In addition, there is the Irkutsk time with a difference of 8 hours and Yakutsk with 9. On the western edge of Russia there are also the Vladivostok time and Magadan time with a difference of 10 and 11 hours.

Bordering Countries of Russia

According to abbreviationfinder, Russia is Europe’s largest country, covering an area of over 17 million square kilometers and boasting a population estimated at around 145 million people; Moscow is Russia’s capital city while other major cities include Saint Petersburg and Novosibirsk among others. Russia’s terrain consists mostly of plains in its western region as well as Ural Mountains located in its eastern region; this terrain also features numerous rivers such as the Volga River which make for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Norway lies northwest of Russia with an area just over 323 thousand square kilometers; Oslo is Norway’s capital city while other major cities include Bergen and Trondheim among others; Norway has a population estimated at around 5 million people. Norway features rugged mountains in the west which lead up to the Arctic Circle near Finland in addition to deep fjords on its Atlantic coastline making for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Finland lies north of Russia with an area just over 338 thousand square kilometers making it one of Europe’s smaller countries; Helsinki is Finland’s capital city while other major cities include Tampere and Turku among others; Finland has a population estimated at around 5.5 million people. Finland features varied terrain from rolling hills in its eastern region towards Russia to flat plains in the west near Sweden as well as rugged islands off its coast along the Baltic Sea which make for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Sweden borders Norway and Finland to the west with an area just under 450 thousand square kilometers making it one of Europe’s smaller countries; Stockholm is Sweden’s capital city while other major cities include Gothenburg and Malmö among others; Sweden has a population estimated at around 10 million people. Sweden features varied terrain from rolling hills in its central region towards Denmark to flat plains in the east near Poland as well as rugged mountains towards Norway including Kebnekaise Mountain which makes for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Estonia lies directly north of Latvia with an area just over 45 thousand square kilometers making it one of Europe’s smallest countries; Tallinn is Estonia’s capital city while other major cities include Tartu and Narva among others; Estonia has a population estimated at around 1.3 million people. Estonia features mostly flat terrain with some hilly regions located mainly on its western border near Latvia as well as numerous islands off its northern coast along the Baltic Sea which make for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Latvia borders Estonia to the south with an area just over 64 thousand square kilometers making it one of Europe’s smaller countries; Riga is Latvia’s capital city while other major cities include Daugavpils and Liepaja among others; Latvia has a population estimated at around 2 million people. Latvia features mostly flat terrain with some hilly regions located mainly on its eastern border near Belarus as well as numerous lakes throughout its interior landscape which make for some great outdoor recreational activities for tourists visiting this beautiful country.

Population Distribution

As of 2023, the latest population of Russia is 141,722,205, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).

People in Russia

Most of the Russians, more than three quarters, live in the European part of the large country. The further east you go, the fewer people live here. 75 percent of the population live in a city.

Russia is a multi-ethnic state. Just under 80 percent of the population are Russians. The remaining 20 percent belong to 100 different races. The largest among them are the Tatars (4 percent), Ukrainians (2.2 percent), Armenians (1.9 percent), Chuvashes (1.5 percent) and Bashkirs (1.4 percent). After all, 0.8 percent are Germans. Other peoples are Chechens, Mordvins, Avars, Ossetians and Yakuts. In the far north live numerically smaller Indian peoples like the Nenets or the Sami.

Republics were established for some of the non-Russian people. There are 21. They belong to Russia (or the Russian Federation), but have their own constitution and legislation. They have the greatest degree of self-determination and independence within Russia. The republics include, for example, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Tatarstan, Mordovia, Altai and Sakha (Yakutia).

Languages in Russia

Russian is the official language in Russia. Russian is considered one of the world languages ​​because it is spoken as a second language or even as an official language in many other countries, for example in Belarus or Kazakhstan. In the countries of the Eastern Bloc, Russian was the first foreign language children learned during the Soviet Union. That was also the case in the GDR.

Russian is written in Cyrillic script. It is named after Kyrill von Saloniki. He did not invent Cyrillic, but a script that is considered the predecessor of Cyrillic. He wanted to evangelize the Slavs in Moravia, i.e. convince them of his (Christian) faith. And this script should help him with that. From it (it is called Glagolitic script) and the Greek, the Cyrillic script developed.

The Russian alphabet has 33 letters. You see them in the picture. As with our alphabet, every letter is in upper and lower case. Ten of the letters stand for vowels: а, е, ё (spoken: jo), и (spoken: i), о, у (spoken: u), ы (spoken similar to: ü), э (spoken: ä), ю (spoken: ju) and я (spoken: yes). 21 letters form consonants. And then there are ъ and ь. They are the “hardness and softness” sign. They are not used to create a sound of their own, but rather indicate whether the preceding consonant is pronounced hard or soft.

There are also dialects in Russian. However, the differences are small and all dialect speakers can understand each other (while, for example, a North German does not understand a Bavarian in every case). In the European part of Russia there are three dialects from north to south: North Russian, Central Russian and South Russian.

The non-Russian peoples living in Russia have their own languages. In the individual republics, the respective vernacular is mostly used as the second official language. It is estimated that a total of 100 languages ​​are spoken in Russia ! Most of the speakers speak Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, Chechen, Mordovian, Avar and Ossetian.

Religions in Russia

In the time of the Soviet Union, i.e. until 1990, the state stipulated that people should not believe in any God. The Russian Orthodox Church, to which most of the Russians belonged, was suppressed by the state during this period.

With the end of the Soviet Union, many people returned to religious values. Thirty percent of the population do not adhere to any faith, but the majority of the people profess the Russian Orthodox faith. There are no reliable figures, their share is estimated at 40 to even 75 percent. The Russian Orthodox Church is one of the Christian churches. The proportion of Muslims in Russia is seven to 15 percent. Muslims live mainly in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Dagestan and Chechnya.