Russia

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Country summary

Capital

Moscow

Borders

Azerbaijan 284 km, Belarus 959 km, China (southeast) 3,605 km, China (south) 40 km, Estonia 290 km, Finland 1,313 km, Georgia 723 km, Kazakhstan 6,846 km, North Korea 17.5 km, Latvia 292 km, Lithuania (Kaliningrad Oblast) 227 km, Mongolia 3,441 km, Norway 196 km, Poland (Kaliningrad Oblast) 432 km, Ukraine 1,576 km

Government type

federation

Population

140,041,247 (July 2010 est.)[1]

Population growth

-0.467% (2010 est.)[1]

Life expectancy

66.03 years[1]

Unemployment

8.4% (2009 est.)[1]

Index of Economic Freedom

143[2]

Corruption Perceptions Index

146[3]

Doing Business ranking

120[4]


Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under PETER I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms. Repeated devastating defeats of the Russian army in World War I led to widespread rioting in the major cities of the Russian Empire and to the overthrow in 1917 of the imperial household. The Communists under Vladimir LENIN seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Iosif STALIN (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics. Since then, Russia has shifted its post-Soviet democratic ambitions in favor of a centralized semi-authoritarian state whose legitimacy is buttressed, in part, by carefully managed national elections, former President PUTIN's genuine popularity, and the prudent management of Russia's windfall energy wealth. Russia has severely disabled a Chechen rebel movement, although violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus.[1]

See also: Soviet Union

Economical characteristics

  • Currency: Ruble (ISO code: RUB)
  • Central bank discount rate: 13% (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Commercial banks lending rate: 12.23% (2008 average)[1]
  • Stock of money (M1): $252.5 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
  • Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $318.4 billion (31 December 2008)[1]

Notable events:

  • Banking crisis: 1862-1863, 1875, 1896, August 1995, 1998-1999[5]
  • Hyperinflation: 1918-1924, 1993
  • Years in inflation: 13.8% (share of years 1800-2009 with annual inflation above 20 per cent per annum)
  • Public default: 1839, 1885, 1918-1986, 1991-1997, 1998-2000 (external), 1917-1918, 1947, 1957, 1998-1999 (domestic)[6]

Statistics

Statistic / Year 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
GDP (million USD)[7] 195 906 259 708 306 603 345 470 431 487 591 742 764 531 991 450 1 294 930 1 679 480
Govt. debt (% of GDP)[8] 48.984 41.353 16.649 9.896 10.470 6.434
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[9] 31.723 27.512 26.817 28.708 31.457 33.365
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[10] 22.535 22.985 21.547 19.510 23.101 21.330
Debt to revenue (years) 1.304 0.345 0.333 0.193

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Russia", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  2. ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Russia", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  3. ↑ Transparency International. "Russia", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  4. ↑ Doing Business. "Russia", Doing Business 2010 (part of The World Bank Group). A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  5. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff. "This Time is Different", Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-14216-6, p. 380. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  6. ↑ Carmen M. Reinhart. "This Time is Different Chartbook: Country Histories on Debt, Default, and Financial Crises" (pdf), March 3, 2010, p. 96. (The list does not claim to be complete.) Referenced 2011-07-21.
  7. ↑ World Bank. "Russia: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  8. ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  9. ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
  10. ↑ World Bank. "Russia: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.

External links

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