What is the population of Russia?

1. According to data from the Russian Federal Statistical Service, as of October 1, 2019, the total population of Russia was approximately 146.7 million.

2. The capital of Russia is Moscow. Moscow is not in Asia, but is located in the middle of the European part of Russia and the middle of the Eastern European Plain, across the Moskva River and its tributary Yauza River. Moscow is the political, economic, cultural, financial, transportation center and largest comprehensive city in Russia. It is an international metropolis.

3. Russia has not always been so large.

In the beginning, Russia was just a small principality of Moscow, with a pitifully small area. In the 15th century, the Muscovite Principality rose to prominence. Through conquests in the north and south, it finally destroyed other principalities and unified the entire territory of Russia. This is a bit like Qin Shihuang's intention to unify the six countries. However, the area of ??unified Russia is still small, far from being comparable to the current land area.

It wasn’t until Ivan the Terrible, Russia’s first tsar, that the Russian Cossacks made expeditions to what is now Siberia and the Far East, causing Russia’s land area to begin to grow significantly. 77% of Russia's current territory was obtained through the conquest of Siberia and the Far East at that time.

In fact, it is not because of how powerful Tsarist Russia is, but because no one competes with them. The so-called "conquest" may be more appropriately described as "exploitation". Siberia and the Far East are vast, cold, and sparsely populated. Most of them are primitive indigenous inhabitants. There is no national-level military power to compete with the Tsarist Russian conquerors.

Even now, the population density in Siberia is only 2 people per square kilometer. During the era of Tsarist Russia’s conquest, the population density was even lower, as low as a few tenths. More importantly, the original indigenous inhabitants of these areas did not resist the Tsarist Russian conquerors at that time. After all, Tsarist Russia needed labor to develop these places, so they did not exterminate the native Indians like the British colonists did.

The Russians hoped to obtain goods from these places and then trade with the Europeans. This allowed the local original indigenous residents to maintain their own way of life, while Tsarist Russia ensured their safety. The original indigenous residents who had no backing seemed to be happy with this result. Later, they became more and more identified with Tsarist Russia, and began to pay taxes, becoming Russian people.

At the same time, Tsarist Russia has not forgotten to expand to the west and south, although this process is much slower and more difficult than in Siberia and the Far East. But in the eyes of the Russians, these places are the real treasures, so they did not hesitate to fight against the Poles and Turks for years.

For a while, Tsarist Russia’s territory reached an unprecedented level, with a total area of ??more than 20 million square kilometers, which is larger than the current Russian territory! However, it was slowly pushed back later, and was fixed at more than 17 million square kilometers.

There are many problems with a large territory. First of all, it is difficult to manage. Sometimes, it takes a long time for things happening in the border areas to reach the capital, St. Petersburg. But this is no longer a problem today with advanced communications. On this earth, a country with a large territory will always have many advantages. No country dares to underestimate a large country with a vast territory.

Extended information:

Reasons for Russia’s population decline:

1. Although Russia is vast and rich in resources, it is not suitable for human habitation.

Russia is the country with the largest territory in the world. It can be said to be vast and rich in natural resources. However, this rich natural resource is not a land suitable for human habitation. Except for the European part of Russia, the Ural Mountains Although the Siberian region to the east is vast, it is located near the Arctic Circle. The climate is extremely cold but not suitable for human habitation.

The excessively harsh climate directly caused Russia's problems. Overall, the European part of Russia only accounts for 23% of its total area. The climate has become an important crux that hinders the development of Russia's population.

2. Russia’s population ratio has been imbalanced since World War II.

In World War II, Russia played an important role and became the world's forefront. However, it was precisely because most of the battlefields were in Russia that a large number of Russian men died on the battlefield. , Russia’s population ratio has been relatively unbalanced for a long time.

The results of three all-Russian censuses in 1989, 2002 and 2010 showed that the male to female population ratios in Russia were 1000:1140, 1000:1147 and 1000:1163 respectively. Such a serious phenomenon of more women than men has directly led to the slow growth of Russia's population.

3. The Russian economy has serious problems.

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Russian economy encountered serious problems. At that time, Russia adopted Summers' shock therapy, which directly led to the collapse of Russia's overall industrial system. Although Russia later relied on resource exports to obtain There is a certain amount of economic growth, but this growth has serious imbalances.

On the one hand, resources have caused Russia to fall into a resource trap. The industrial system has basically become a monopoly on the energy system, and the development of other industries has seriously lagged behind. On the other hand, the priority of heavy industry formed during the Soviet period, The backwardness of light industry has directly caused Russia to remain in the backward stage of light industry and agricultural development for a long time.

Due to the backward level of economic development, a large number of Russia’s working population have low income levels. Coupled with the serious polarization between rich and poor, this has actually directly led to the emergence of serious demographic problems in Russia.

4. Russia’s food culture also has problems.

Due to the extremely cold weather in Russia, in order to ward off the cold and keep warm, Russians have formed a very obvious catering culture, which is that they like to drink strong alcohol. In Russia, it is basically the world of vodka. Russian men have been drinking alcohol for a long time. It has almost become a social trend.

There are two core problems caused by alcoholism. One is the intensification of family conflicts. There are quite a few single-parent families in Russia, and the core problem is caused by alcoholism. Another is that the physical fitness of Russian men has seriously declined. Alcoholism has directly affected the physical health of Russian men, which is also an important reason for the declining birth rate.

Reference materials:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Russia