About 147 million people - that's how many people live in Russia today. How many of them are women, men, children and senior citizens? What nationalities are the largest in the country? What features distinguishes the rural and urban population of Russia? Let's try to answer all these questions.
Russian population: some dry numbers
The Russian Federation is the first country in the world in area and ninth in terms of population. The main demographic indicators of the state (as of 2016):
- 146 544 710 - the population of Russia (as of January 1, 2016);
- 1.77 - total fertility rate (for 2015);
- 18 538 - an increase in the country's inhabitants in the first 11 months of 2016;
- 8.57 people / sq. km - average population density;
- 20-24 years - the average age of birth of the first child (for women);
- More than 200 nations and ethnic groups live in modern Russia.
Population Accounting in the Russian Federation
To make the most complete and accurate demographic picture of the country allows the data of the census. This information helps to analyze the dynamics of general demographic indicators in a state or its specific region.
A population census is a laborious and unified process of collecting, organizing, analyzing and processing data on the population of a country or region. This event is based on the principles of confidentiality, universality and strict centralization of the whole process.
The first in the history of Russia general population census was carried out in 1897 under the guidance of the scientist and geographer P.P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky. In Soviet times, the inhabitants of the country were "counted" nine more times. After the collapse of the USSR, a population census in Russia was carried out twice - in 2002 and 2010.
In addition to censuses, the registration of demographic indicators in Russia is carried out by the Federal State Statistics Service, territorial offices of registry offices, as well as passport offices.
The current demographic situation in Russia
The total population of the Russian Federation: almost 143 million people and another 90,000 citizens residing abroad. These are the data of the last census conducted in the country in the fall of 2010. Compared to the 2002 census, the population of Russia has declined by more than two million.
In general, the current demographic situation in Russia can be characterized as crisis. Although it’s too early to talk about the “extinction of the nation”. Moreover, in recent years a positive natural population growth has been recorded (albeit insignificant). Life expectancy in the country is also increasing. So, since 2010, it has grown from 68.9 to 70.8 years.
According to the most pessimistic scenarios, by 2030 the population of Russia will decrease to approximately 142 million people. According to forecasts of optimistic demographers, its number will grow to 152 million inhabitants.
Sex and age structure of the population
According to the latest census, there are 10.8 million more women in Russia than men. And this "gap" between the sexes is expanding every year. The main reason for this situation is the increased mortality among men of mature (working) age. Moreover, more than half of these deaths are due to diseases of the cardiovascular system.
The current age composition of the Russian population is as follows:
- group of children and minors (0-14 years old): 15%;
- citizens of working age (15-64 years): 72%
- pensioners (over 65 years): about 13%.
Ethnic composition of the population
In accordance with the current Constitution, Russia is a multinational state. The data of recent censuses once again confirm this thesis.
So, in Russia today there are more than two hundred nationalities and ethnic groups. The largest nation in the country are Russians (about 80%). However, they are dispersed throughout the Russian Federation quite unevenly. The smallest number of Russians in the Chechen Republic (no more than 2%).
Other nations, the number of which within Russia exceeds one percent:
- Tatars (3.9%);
- Ukrainians (1.4%);
- Bashkirs (1.2%);
- Chuvash (1%);
- Chechens (1%).
Citizens of the Russian Federation speak several hundred languages ​​and various dialects. The most common of them are Russian, Ukrainian, Armenian, Belarusian, Tatar. But 136 languages ​​on the territory of modern Russia are under serious threat of complete extinction (according to the international organization UNESCO).
Rural and urban population of Russia
Today in Russia there are 2386 cities and more than 134 thousand rural settlements. 74% of the country's inhabitants live in cities, 26% in villages. The rural and urban population of Russia are very different in ethnic, gender and age composition, level and way of life.
In modern Russia, two seemingly incompatible trends are surprisingly combined. On the one hand, the number of villages is rapidly decreasing in the country, and the “rural Russia” sung in poetry and prose is gradually dying out. On the other hand, the country is characterized by the so-called deurbanization (within 0.2% per year). Russia is one of the few states in the world where people are actively moving from cities to villages for permanent residence.
As of the beginning of 2016, the urban population of Russia is almost 109 million people.
Cities of Russia
If at least 12,000 people live in a settlement, provided that 85% of them are not employed in agriculture, then it can be considered a city. All cities of Russia by population are divided into:
- small (up to 50,000 inhabitants);
- medium (50-100 thousand);
- large (100-250 thousand);
- large (250-500 thousand);
- the largest (500-1000 thousand);
- “Millionaires” (with a population of over one million people).
To date, the list of millionaire cities in Russia consists of 15 names. And in these fifteen settlements, almost 10% of the population of the Russian Federation is concentrated.
Many large cities of Russia are developing very rapidly, overgrown with satellite settlements and forming urban agglomerations with stable economic and social relationships.
Russian villages
In Russia, there are five types of rural settlements:
- village;
- villages;
- farm;
- villages;
- auls.
About half of all rural settlements in the country are smallest (the population of which does not exceed 50 people).
The traditional Russian village is gradually dying out. And this is one of the most painful demographic problems of modern Russia. Since 1991, about 20 thousand villages and villages have disappeared from the map of the state. An impressive and scary figure!
The last census conducted in 2010 once again proved sad statistics: from many Russian villages there were only names and deserted houses. And the question here is not only about the villages of Siberia or the Far East. Just a few hundred kilometers from Moscow, you can find recently abandoned villages. The most sad situation is observed in the Tver region, which is located just in the middle between the two capital cities of the country - Moscow and St. Petersburg. Large migrations to these two promising megalopolises, combined with high mortality rates, lead to the extinction of dozens of small towns.
Why is the Russian village dying out? There are many reasons, although they are all closely related. Lack of work, normal medicine and infrastructure, total lack of infrastructure and the impossibility of self-realization drive rural residents to big cities.
Crimean population: total strength, national, linguistic, and religious composition
As of the beginning of 2016, 2.3 million people live in the Republic of Crimea. During 2014-2016, about 22 thousand people migrated from the peninsula to mainland Ukraine (for political reasons). During the same period, at least 200 thousand refugees from the war-torn cities and villages of Donbass moved to Crimea.
The population of Crimea is representatives of 175 nationalities. The most numerous among them are Russians (68%), Ukrainians (16%), Crimean Tatars (11%), Belarusians, Azerbaijanis and Armenians. The most common language on the peninsula is Russian. Besides him, one can often hear Crimean Tatar, Armenian, and Ukrainian speech here.
Most of the Crimean population professes Orthodoxy. Crimean Tatars, as well as Uzbeks and Azerbaijanis are adherents of the Muslim religion. The local Karaites and Krymchaks are Jewish in their religion. Today, there are more than 1300 religious communities and organizations on the peninsula.
The level of urbanization in the republic is quite low - only 51%. In recent decades, the total rural population of Crimea has increased significantly due to the Crimean Tatars, who at that time were actively returning to their historical homeland and settled mainly in villages. Today in Crimea there are 17 cities. The largest of them (by population): Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Yevpatoriya and Yalta.
Conclusion
26% / 74% - this is the ratio that estimates the rural and urban population of Russia today. The state has a lot of acute demographic problems, the solution of which should be approached comprehensively. One of them is the process of extinction of villages and small towns in modern Russia.