Population and language
Russia is a multinational country with over 170 ethnic groups designated as nationalities where people speak more than 100 different languages and practice all the main religions.
At 17,125,200 square kilometres Russia is the largest country in the world by surface area, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth's inhabited land area, and the ninth most populous, with over 144 million people at the end of March 2016.
The largest and the most populated cities
- Moscow – about 12 381 000 people
- St. Petersburg – about 5 282 000 people
- Novosibirsk – about 1 603 000 people
- Yekaterinburg – about 1 456 000 people
- Nizhny Novgorod – about 1 267 000 people
- Kazan – about 1 232 000 people
- Chelyabinsk – about 1 199 000 people
- Omsk – about 1 178 000 people
- Samara – about 1 170 000 people
- Ufa – about 1 126 000 people
Russia has 15 cities with a population of over 1 million people and 23 cities a population of over 500 thousand people.
The main languages
The Russian is the only official language in Russia, 142.6 million people speak Russian. But in several republics there are also co-official native languages.
For more than 92% of the population the mother tongue is Russian, but there also exists other common languages:
- Ukrainian – 1.8 million speakers
- Tatar – 5.3 million
- Armenian
- Bashkir
- Avar
In modern Russia most of young and adult people study foreign languages. According to statistics, about 8 million of people knows English fluently (German – more than 2 millions), but most of the population in big cities speaks English. It is explained by compulsory studying English and other languages in schools and universities. That is why the number of people who speaks foreign languages constantly increases.
Feel the hospitality of Russia
As far as Russia is a multinational and multicultural country, the Russian are very hospitable, benevolent and cordial people that respect all the foreign visitors and are pleased to meet tourists in their native country.