Natural resources: wide natural resource base including major deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, and many strategic minerals, timber note: formidable obstacles of climate, terrain, and distance hinder exploitation of natural resources
Land use: arable land: 8% permanent crops: NEGL% meadows and pastures: 5% forest and woodland: 45% other: 42%
Irrigated land: 56,000 sq km (1992)
Environment:
current issues: air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of
coal-fired electric plants, and transportation in major cities;
industrial and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and sea
coasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper
application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes
intense radioactive contamination
natural hazards: permafrost over much of Siberia is a major impediment
to development; volcanic activity in the Kuril Islands; volcanoes and
earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula
international agreements: party to - Air Pollution, Air
Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Sulphur 85, Antarctic Treaty,
Climate Change, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification,
Hazardous Wastes, Marine Dumping, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Wetlands, Whaling;
signed, but not ratified - Air Pollution-Sulphur 94,
Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Biodiversity, Law of the Sea
Note: largest country in the world in terms of area but unfavorably located in relation to major sea lanes of the world; despite its size, much of the country lacks proper soils and climates (either too cold or too dry) for agriculture
@Russia:People
Population: 149,909,089 (July 1995 est.) note: official Russian statistics put the population at 148,200,000 for 1994
Age structure:
0-14 years: 22% (female 16,208,640; male 16,784,017)
15-64 years: 66% (female 50,711,209; male 48,247,101)
65 years and over: 12% (female 12,557,447; male 5,400,675) (July 1995
est.)
Population growth rate: 0.2% (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the population growth rate at
-6.0% for 1994
Birth rate: 12.64 births/1,000 population (1995 est.)
note: official Russian statistics put the birth rate at 9.5 births per
l,000 population for 1994