Part of the land

Russia, as once the USSR, is the largest state in the world in the world. Its area is 17.075 million square kilometers - 76 percent of the area of ​​the former USSR. The second largest country in the country of Canada has a territory of 10 million square kilometers.

The territory of Russia is 11.4 percent of the land on Earth, that is, a little more than 1/9 of its part (the total area of ​​land land - 149 million square kilometers). More than a third (42 percent) of the country is located in Europe, the rest of the territory in Asia. The European part of Russia is 42 percent of Europe , the Asian part is 19 percent of Asia.

According to 1998, more than 147.1 million people lived in Russia, or50 percent of the population of the former USSR. The share of Russia in the population of the world is 2.7 percent; By the number of residents, she ranks seventh after China, India, the USA, Indonesia, Brazil and Pakistan. Residents of the European part of Russia make up 18 percent of the population of Europe , the Asian part is only one percent of the population of Asia. Approximately 78 percent of the population of Russia lives in its European part.

The general geographical position of the country is defined as northeast of Eurasia in the immediate vicinity of North America.

In the West, the outer point of Russia is the Baltic Silett of the Gdan Gulf of the Baltic Sea - 19 ° 38 'in. It is located in the Kaliningrad region on the border with Poland. In the east, the extreme point is the island of Ratmanov in the Bering Strait (169 ° 02 'Z.D.), and on the continent - Cape Dezhnev (169 ° 40' Z.D.). In the south, the extreme point of Russia is in the Republic of Dagestan 10 kilometers from the Bazardyuzu Mountain (the crest of the main Caucasian ridge), on the border with Azerbaijan - 41 ° 10 '. In the north, the outer point is located on the island of Rudolph in the Earth of Franz Joseph- Cape Fligeli , 81 ° 51 'S.Sh., and on the continent -Cape Chelyuskin on the Taimyr Peninsula, 77 ° ° C.Sh. (The northernmost point of Eurasia).

Most of the Russian territory is located between the 50th parallel and the northern polar circle, i.e. In medium and high latitudes.

From South Dagestan to the land of Franz Joseph, the distance is more than 40 ° along the meridian, i.e. More than 4400 kilometers (the length of one degree along the meridian is about 111 kilometers). From the Baltic braid to the island of Ratmanov, the distance is about 110 thousandth, or 9 thousand kilometers, if you do not take into account the semi -analyst - the Kaliningrad region. Within Russia there are 11 hours -hour belts .

The main changes after the collapse of the USSR

• The area of ​​Russia is less than the area of ​​the USSR by more than 5 million square kilometers (Canada Square is about 10 million square kilometers, China - 9.6 million square kilometers, the United States - 9.4 million square kilometers).

• The population in the territory decreased by about doubled.

• Reducing the area of ​​access to the Black and Baltic Seas. Reducing ports, including specialized.

• Separation of the Caspian Sea. The richest areas of the Caspian - southern - are located in other countries.

• “displacement” of the territory to the northeast.

• The total area of ​​seismically active areas, the zones of desertification and exhaustion of soils decreased.

• The conflict section of the Tajikistan -Afghanistan border was separated from Russia by several states.

• Reducing direct ground outputs to Eastern and Central Europe (Belarus, Kaliningrad Poloanglave).

• “wedging” Kazakhstani territory into the territory of Russia in the main resettlement lane.

• Part of the Trans -Siberian Railway, the main transport artery of the West - East, is now located in Kazakhstan.

• Uranus, chrome, titanium, manganese and other minerals have become scarce for Russia.

• The Baikonur cosmodrome is now located in Kazakhstan.

• Recreational resources (Baltic states, Transcaucasia, Ukraine) decreased.

• Sports bases decreased. Some unique sports facilities remained outside of Russia.

• Several largest environmental problems were outside the territory of Russia (Chernobyl, the Aral region).

• Several foci of the occurrence of quarantine diseases (cholera, plague) were outside of Russia.