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Russia

Russian Federation · Eastern Europe

Position of Russia on a world map

At a glance

CapitalMoscow
Most common first languageRussian85.7% speak it as a mother tongue
Official languageRussian
CurrencyRussian ruble
Drives on theright
Highest pointMount Elbrus5,642 m
Biggest category of goods exportedfuel43% of goods exports, 2021
Services share of exports9.9%of everything sold abroad, 2025
Internet domain.ru

Facts about Russia

Russia spans eleven time zones.

Source: Guinness World Records, joint second with the USA · checked 2026-08-08

Russia is the largest in the world by land area.

Source: data.worldbank.org · checked 2026-08-08

Russia exports the most wheat, by volume.

Source: apps.fas.usda.gov · checked 2026-08-08

Russia has the largest forest area.

Source: openknowledge.fao.org · checked 2026-08-08

Russia holds the largest proven natural gas reserves.

Source: visualcapitalist.com · checked 2026-08-08

Russia by the numbers

Rank is out of the countries with data for that measure. Every figure is the latest year the source publishes.

MeasureValueRank
PopulationEveryone living in the country, all ages, counted mid-year.144m (2025)9th
of 209
GDPThe total value of everything the country produces in a year, at current prices.$2.56tn (2025)8th
of 203
Land areaTotal land area, excluding inland water and offshore territory.16.4m km² (2023)1st
of 209
Military spending, totalWhat the government spends on its armed forces in a year — pay, equipment and operations.$149bn (2024)3rd
of 151
Exports of goods & servicesThe value of everything the country sells abroad in a year, goods and services combined.$466bn (2025)22nd
of 180
Mobile subscriptionsActive mobile phone subscriptions — NOT the same as people. Many people hold two, so a country can have more subscriptions than residents.270m (2024)5th
of 205
Forest areaLand under natural or planted trees, whether or not it is productive.8.15m km² (2023)1st
of 203
Agricultural landCropland, land under permanent crops, and permanent pasture.2.16m km² (2023)5th
of 206
CO₂ emissionsCarbon dioxide released in a year, in millions of tonnes.2.01k Mt (2024)4th
of 198
Urban populationThe number of people living in urban areas, as each country defines them.108m (2025)8th
of 209
Life expectancyHow long a baby born today would live if death rates never changed.73.4 years (2024)114th
of 209
GDP per personEverything the country produces in a year, divided by its population.$17,547 (2025)78th
of 205
Internet useThe share of people who have used the internet in the last three months.94.4% (2024)31st
of 191
InflationHow much prices rose over the year, measured on a basket of consumer goods.8.7% (2025)28th
of 182
UnemploymentThe share of people who want a job and are looking for one but do not have one.2.1% (2025)168th
of 185
Urban shareThe share of the population living in urban areas.75.3% (2025)68th
of 209
Births per womanHow many children a woman would have across her life at current birth rates.1.42 (2024)167th
of 209
Military spending, share of GDPWhat the country spends on its armed forces, as a share of everything it produces.7.05% of GDP (2024)5th
of 155
Trade opennessImports plus exports as a share of GDP. Above 100% is normal for small trading economies.33.7% of GDP (2025)173rd
of 183
CO₂ per personCarbon dioxide from fuel and industry, divided by the population.14.00 t (2024)12th
of 198
Human Development IndexThe UN’s combined measure of health, education and income, on a scale from 0 to 1.0.832 (2023)64th
of 193

Land borders

🇦🇿 Azerbaijan🇧🇾 Belarus🇨🇳 China🇪🇪 Estonia🇫🇮 Finland🇬🇪 Georgia🇰🇿 Kazakhstan🇱🇻 Latvia🇱🇹 Lithuania🇲🇳 Mongolia🇰🇵 North Korea🇳🇴 Norway🇵🇱 Poland🇺🇦 Ukraine

Across the water

Close by sea, with no shared land border.

🇸🇪 Sweden

Russia shares these with other countries

Drives on the right 149Has a coast and land neighbours 115Has russian as an official language 4Is a member of the g20 19Mainly exports fuel 27Sells almost only goods 34Is in eastern europe 4

Russia in the Daily Ceteris

Questions from the daily puzzle where the answer is Russia.

Which country is the largest in the world by land area?

Russia covers about 17.1 million km², nearly twice the size of second-place Canada, and spans 11 time zones — the most of any single contiguous country. source

Which country exports the most wheat, by volume?

Russia ships about 47 million tonnes of wheat a year, roughly a fifth of all traded wheat and more than the entire European Union as a bloc. The dominance rests on cheap Black Sea freight and vast steppe farmland; when war disrupted those exports in 2022, bread prices moved within weeks. source

Which country has the largest forest area?

Russia alone holds 832 million hectares of forest — a fifth of the planet's total, mostly boreal taiga so remote that logging and carbon-storage policy there barely register in world timber prices, unlike Brazil's Amazon. Russia, Brazil, Canada, the United States and China together account for 54% of the world's forest. source

Which country holds the largest proven natural gas reserves?

Russia sits on the world's largest proven gas reserves, around 1,320 trillion cubic feet - more than Iran or Qatar. Yet losing its main customer, Europe, after 2022 stranded huge volumes, since gas needs pipelines or costly LNG plants to reach any other buyer. source

Keep going

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Country data from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0) and the UNDP Human Development Report (CC BY 3.0 IGO)
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