Russia, general name for the independent, federal republic in eastern Europe and western and northern Asia officially called the Russian Federation (Russian, Rossiyskaya Federatsiya); historically the term is used to refer to the Russian Empire (862-1917), which covered a much larger area than that of present-day Russia. From 1922 until December 25, 1991, the Russian Federation formed part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; or Soviet Union), when it was known formally as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). The term Russian Federation (or RSFSR), originally applied to the state proclaimed by the Bolsheviks in November 1917 as the territorial successor to the whole of the Russian Empire. It was only on the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922, following the decision by the Bolsheviks to respect the self-determination of the empire's many nations, that the Russian Federation became one of the USSR's 15 constituent republics-albeit the largest and most influential, accounting for more than three quarters of its area and more than half of its population.

Population
        147,501,000
        (1997 official estimate)
Population Density
        9 people/sq km
        (22 people/sq mi)
        (1997 estimate)
Urban/Rural Breakdown
        73%Urban
        27%Rural
Largest Cities
        Moscow8,660,000
        Saint Petersburg4,800,000
        Novosibirsk1,380,000
        Nizhny Novgorod1,380,000
        Yekaterinburg1,280,000
        (1996 estimates metropolitan areas)
Ethnic Groups
        80%Russian
        4%Tatars
        16%Other
        including Ukrainians, Chuvash, Bashkir, 
        Belorussians, Mordvin, Germans, Udmurt, Mari,
         Kazakhs, Jews, Armenians, Chechens, Yakut, and Ossetians
Languages
Official Language
        Russian
Other Languages
        many minority languages
Religions
        24%Russian Orthodox
Christianity
        76%Other
        including other Christian denominations, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism