Under Soviet-era planning, residential areas were separated from industrial sections of the city. Guidelines were established for the number of shops and other facilities to be provided for given numbers of people, some on the ground floors of apartment buildings. About 90 percent of Moscow's approximately 3 million housing units were built after 1955, most in the form of multistory apartment blocks. These include brick buildings five to nine stories high, built in the late 1950s as part of a government effort to alleviate a housing shortage, and high-rise apartment buildings in planned suburban communities, built after 1970 on the city's outskirts. While some of the apartment buildings built in the 1950s are in need of renovation, all apartments have piped water and sewer service, and nearly all have hot water and a bath.
Most buildings have central heating and telephone service.
In January 1992 the city government allowed tenants to claim ownership of their apartments by registering and paying a small fee. The influx of people from other parts of Russia, and to a lesser extent from the adjoining successor states of the former Soviet Union, now accounts for most of the city's growth. Russians are the largest ethnic group in Moscow. Orthodox Christianity is the predominant religion in Moscow. The city also has communities of Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and Roman Catholics.