Russian Population Ranks Seventh Worldwide

The state statistics committee announced a preliminary summary of the Russian census, which was conducted in October of last year. State Statistics Committee Chairperson Vladimir Sokolin said at a press conference on Thursday that according to the received data the population of the Russian Federation is 145.3 million people. In addition, 200,000 people are temporarily located on the territory of the Russian Federation, but permanently live abroad. Of the 145.3 million, 100,000 people are Russian citizens located abroad on long-term business trips.

Sokolin also said that Russia ranks seventh worldwide in terms of total population after China, India, US, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan. The census shows that most people live in the European part of Russia, in the Central (26.2%), Privolzhsky (21.5%) and Southern (15.8%) federal districts. The least populated area is the Far East District (4.6%). Since 1989 the population has increased only in the Southern and Central districts.

As in years past, women predominate in the census. Men outnumber women only in Chukotka, Koryaksky, Evenkiysky, Yamalo-Nenetsky autonomous districts and Kamchatsky region. The ratio between urban and rural populations changed little - 73.3% and 26.7% compared to 73.4% and 26.6% in 1989. Sokolin said that conducting the census cost about USD 161.3 million, which makes it one of the least expensive censuses compared to other countries.