Demographics of Russia

The **Demographics of Russia** is the study of the population and people in Russia.

The population of Russia in 2018 is estimated to be around 144,526,636 people. This number does not include the people in Crimea. This makes Russia the 9th most populous country in the world.

## Ethnic groups

Ethnic Russians make up about 81% of Russia's population.

|style="width:100px;" rowspan="2"|Group|style="width:120px;" rowspan="2"|Language family|style="width:150px;" colspan="2"|2002 census|style="width:150px;" colspan="2"|2010 census|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Russians|Indo-European|115,889,107|80.6%|111,016,896|80.9%|||
|Tatars|Turkic|5,554,601|3.9%|5,310,649|3.9%|||
|Ukrainians|Indo-European|2,942,961|2.0%|1,927,888|1.4%|||
|Bashkirs|Turkic|1,673,389|1.2%|1,584,554|1.2%|||
|Chuvashs|Turkic|1,637,094|1.1%|1,435,872|1.1%|||
|Chechens|Northeast Caucasian|1,360,253|1.0%|1,431,360|1.0%|||
|Armenians|Indo-European|1,132,033|0.8%|1,182,388|0.9%|||
|Avars|Northeast Caucasian|814,473|0.6%|912,090|0.7%|||
|Mordvins|Uralic|843,350|0.6%|744,237|0.5%|||
|Kazakhs|Turkic|653,962|0.5%|647,732|0.5%|||
|Azerbaijanis|Turkic|621,840|0.4%|603,070|0.4%|||
|Dargins|Northeast Caucasian|510,156|0.4%|589,386|0.4%|||
|Udmurts|Uralic|636,906|0.5%|552,299|0.4%|||
|Mari|Uralic|604,298|0.4%|547,605|0.4%|||
|Ossetians|Indo-European|514,875|0.4%|528,515|0.4%|||
|Belarusians|Indo-European|807,970|0.6%|521,443|0.4%|||
|Kabardins|Northwest Caucasian|519,958|0.4%|516,826|0.4%|||
|Kumyks|Turkic|422,409|0.3%|503,060|0.4%|||
|Sakha|Turkic|443,852|0.3%|478,085|0.4%|||
|Lezgians|Northeast Caucasian|411,535|0.3%|473,722|0.3%|||

## Fertility rates

The total fertility rate (TFR), which measures how many children the average woman in a region will have, in Russia is 1.62 children born/woman as of 2017. This is one of the highest rates in Eastern Europe.

### By federal subject

Below is a list of the total fertility rates by each federal subject. The lowest TFR is in Leningrad Oblast, and the highest is in the Republic of Tuva.

|width=120|Federal subject|width=60|2017 TFR|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Altai Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.64||
|Amur Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.71||
|Arkhangelsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.68||
|Astrakhan Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.73||
|Belgorod Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.39||
|Bryansk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.43||
|Chelyabinsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.61||
|Chukotka Autonomous Okrug|style="text-align:center;"|2.08||
|Chuvash Republic|style="text-align:center;"|1.65||
|Irkutsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.86||
|Ivanovo Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.46||
|Jewish Autonomous Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.81||
|Kabardino-Balkaria Republic|style="text-align:center;"|1.61||
|Kaliningrad Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.57||
|Kaluga Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.64||
|Kamchatka Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.78||
|Karachay–Cherkess Republic|style="text-align:center;"|1.43||
|Kemerovo Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.54||
|Khabarovsk Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.64||
|Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug|style="text-align:center;"|1.88||
|Kirov Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.70||
|Kostroma Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.70||
|Krasnodar Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.72||
|Krasnoyarsk Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.67||
|Kurgan Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.88||
|Kursk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.46||
|Leningrad Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.22||
|Lipetsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.54||
|Magadan Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.60||
|Moscow|style="text-align:center;"|1.38||
|Moscow Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.61||
|Murmansk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.56||
|Nenets Autonomous Okrug|style="text-align:center;"|2.35||
|Nizhny Novgorod Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.50||
|Novgorod Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.61||
|Novosibirsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.67||
|Omsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.61||
|Orenburg Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.73||
|Oryol Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.42||
|Penza Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.36||
|Perm Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.75||
|Primorski Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.60||
|Pskov Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.57||
|Republic of Adygea|style="text-align:center;"|1.52||
|Republic of Altai|style="text-align:center;"|2.36||
|Republic of Bashkortostan|style="text-align:center;"|1.70||
|Republic of Buryatia|style="text-align:center;"|2.00||
|Republic of Chechnya|style="text-align:center;"|2.73||
|Republic of Crimea|style="text-align:center;"|1.64||
|Republic of Dagestan|style="text-align:center;"|1.91||
|Republic of Ingushetia|style="text-align:center;"|1.77||
|Republic of Kalmykia|style="text-align:center;"|1.54||
|Republic of Karelia|style="text-align:center;"|1.56||
|Republic of Khakassia|style="text-align:center;"|1.78||
|Republic of Komi|style="text-align:center;"|1.78||
|Republic of Mari El|style="text-align:center;"|1.75||
|Republic of Mordovia|style="text-align:center;"|1.26||
|Republic of North Ossetia–Alania|style="text-align:center;"|1.75||
|Republic of Sakha|style="text-align:center;"|1.93||
|Republic of Tatarstan|style="text-align:center;"|1.65||
|Republic of Tuva|style="text-align:center;"|3.19||
|Rostov Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.46||
|Ryazan Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.51||
|Sakhalin Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|2.03||
|Samara Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.53||
|Saratov Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.39||
|Sevastopol|style="text-align:center;"|1.56||
|Smolensk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.37||
|St Petersburg|style="text-align:center;"|1.50||
|Stavropol Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.54||
|Sverdlovsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.76||
|Tambov Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.38||
|Tomsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.47||
|Tula Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.40||
|Tver Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.56||
|Tyumen Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.88||
|Udmurt Republic|style="text-align:center;"|1.72||
|Ulyanovsk Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.52||
|Vladimir Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.52||
|Volgograd Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.44||
|Vologda Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.70||
|Voronezh Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.37||
|Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug|style="text-align:center;"|1.95||
|Yaroslavl Oblast|style="text-align:center;"|1.53||
|Zabaykalsky Krai|style="text-align:center;"|1.87||

### Christianity

In 2012, 47% of people in Russia identified as Christians. Most Christians in Russia are members of the Russian Orthodox Church. The number of Russian Orthodox members have been decreasing in recent years. Most Orthodox Christians live in Western Russia. Overall, there are about 61 million Russian Orthodox Christians in Russia, making up 43% of the population.

There are around 400,000 Old Believers in Russia. They make up less than 1% of the population. Before the Russian Revolution, Old Believers made up 10% of the population.

There has been a rise in Russian converts to Catholicism in recent years. Catholics make up less than 1% of the population, and number at 140,000 citizens. Most live in Western Russia. 47% of Catholics in Russia are ethnic Russians, 16% are Germans, 9% are Armenians, 4% are Belarusians, and the rest are Koreans, Poles, Lithuanians, and others.

Lutherans in Russia have typically been ethnic Finns or Germans. In recent years, some Russians have been converting to Lutheranism, so some traditionally Finnish churches now have more Russian members than Finnish.

Christians not associated with any church or denomination make up 4% of the population.

In April 2017, the Supreme Court of Russia decided that Jehovah's Witnesses were extremists. Their activities are now banned in Russia. In the mid-2000s, there were around 255,000 Jehovah's Witnesses.

### Islam

Islam is the second largest religion in Russia. It is popular in the Caucasus region and some republics in central Russia. In 2012, Muslims made up almost 7% of the population. However, this number does not include the Muslim-majority republics of Chechnya and Ingushetia. Between 1998 and 2007, the number of Muslims in Russia doubled from 5.9 million to 11.4 million. Most Muslims in Russia are Sunni. A little over 10% of the Muslim population is Shia. Sunni Sufism is a tradition in some areas, notably Chechnya and Dagestan.

5 federal subjects have a Muslim-majority population. These are Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Kabardino-Balkaria, and Tatarstan.

## Related pages

- List of cities and towns in Russia by population