Russians - people living in Russia

Related articles: Morals of Russians, Why Russians rarely smile.

Population of Russia

Russia is the ninth country in the world in terms of population (about 144,300,000). The average density of the population is very small and is about 8.57 people/sq. km. However, it should be noted that the population is extremely unevenly distributed: about 68% of the population lives in the European part of Russia, which is about 20% of the territory.

The majority of the population of Russia is concentrated in a triangle the tops of which are St. Petersburg in the north, Sochi in the south and Irkutsk in the east. In Siberia, almost 75% of the territory of Russia, less than 20% of the population lives.

Russian People

Russian People latest news and posts from our blog:

11 January, 2025 / Russian Civilian and Military Clothing in the 14th-18th Centuries.

29 June, 2023 / Russian Beauties in the Paintings of Konstantin Makovsky.

3 July, 2022 / Anthropological album "Russians" published in 1867.

24 May, 2021 / 5 Things You Should Never Do in Russia.

27 November, 2020 / Russian girls at home and abroad: Is dating etiquette changing?.

More posts..

News, notes and thoughts:

15 July, 2025  / From 2021 to 2025, the average age of people getting married in Russia increased - for brides from 30.7 to 33.2 years, for grooms from 32.8 to 35.3 years. The number of marriage applications: in 2021 - 1.1M, in 2022 - 1.8M, in 2023 - 2.6M, in 2024 - 2.8M. In Q1-Q2 2025, 1,095,497 births of children were registered. In 2024, the natural population decline in Russia was 596.2K.

12 June, 2025  / In 2024, according to the Ministry of Health, the increase in obesity among children by the time they graduate from school was 1.6 times. The total number of such schoolchildren is 480 thousand. The proportion of obese children aged 7-10 years - 1.67%, 11-14 years - 2.79%, 15-17 years - 2.82%. In total, about 40% of the population in Russia is overweight.

1 June, 2025  / As of 2024, according to Rosstat, 18.7% of people in Russia smoke, mainly aged 35-44. In 2018, 24.2% smoked. 43.5% of men and 86.3% of women have never tried smoking. The highest rates: Jewish Oblast (30.4%), Buryatia (25.6%), Amur Oblast (24.6%), Altai (24.4%), Komi (23.6%). The lowest: Chechnya (0.1%), Ingushetia (2.3%), Dagestan (7.2%), Kabardino-Balkaria (8.4%), Mordovia (9.2%). Moscow - 18.3%, St. Petersburg - 11.9%.

Russians - facts and features

In Siberia and the Far East, the population is concentrated along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway (Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok), as well as in the Kuznetsk coal basin.

The density of the population in the European part of Russia is 27 people/sq. km., in the Asian part - 3 people/sq. km. Among the subjects of the Russian Federation, the largest population density is registered in Moscow - more than 4,600 people/sq. km., the smallest - in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - less than 0.07 people/sq. km.

The urban population is about 74%. There are 15 cities with a population of more than 1 million people: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Omsk, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Rostov-on-Don, Ufa, Volgograd, Perm, Krasnoyarsk, Voronezh.

According to the 2010 population census, representatives of more than 180 nationalities (ethnic groups) reside in Russia. Russians make up about 80% of the total population, they are unevenly distributed across the country: in some regions, such as Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, they make up less than 5% of the population.

Also it should be mentioned that “Russians” in English usually refers to all citizens of the Russian Federation regardless of their nationality (in Russian language a citizen of the country is called “rossiyanin”, plural “rossiyane”).

About 75% of Russians living in the country consider themselves to be followers of Orthodoxy, the proportion of people who do not profess any religion is also significant.

The national language is Russian belonging to the eastern subgroup of the Slavic languages that are part of the Indo-European family of languages. The Russian language uses writing on the basis of the Russian alphabet, which goes back to the Cyrillic alphabet. Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Spoken Russian language must be studied by all astronauts working on the ISS.

Russia is among the top ten states with the lowest ratio of the number of people of working age and pensioners. For one pensioner there are about 2.4 employed, in China this ratio is 3.5, in the USA - 4.4.

The questions of our visitors

Skanky Dada asks: Can I survive on 500 thousand rubles a month in Russia?
Expert's answer:
As of August 2023, most working people in Russia earn in the range of about 20,000-40,000 Rubles per month. With an income of 500,000 rubles a month, you can live in very comfortable conditions everywhere in Russia, including Moscow.
Paul asks: Is 50,000 rubles a good Christmas gift and what could you buy
Expert's answer:
Yes, this is a relatively large amount for the average Russian citizen, exceeding the monthly income in most cases (November, 2021). However, be careful and do not send any such gifts until you are absolutely sure that this is a real person (this requires a real meeting or at least numerous online talks with a webcam turned on).
John asks: Why do Russian people try to get into an elevator which is already full of people who are trying to get out of it?
Expert's answer:
What an unusual question. I don't think that this behavior is inherent exclusively to the Russians, it is rather a question of bad manners and lack of respect for other people, which can occur in other countries too. In general, the level of respect for each other in Russia is often quite low, people only think about themselves and their needs.

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