Russia’s current status as of February 28th, 2008: [This was published by Reuters today]
Here are some facts about Russia, which holds a presidential election on Sunday.
ECONOMY:
Nominal GDP (2007) – 32.99 trillion roubles ($1.363 trillion). In 1999, nominal GDP was less than $200 billion.
Economic growth forecast (2008) – 6.6 percent.
Economic growth (2007) – 8.1 percent.
Inflation (2007) – 11.9 percent.
President Vladimir Putin has presided over the Russia’s longest economic boom for a generation, helped by soaring prices for Russia’s main exports—oil, gas and commodities.
A consumer boom inside Russia has boosted growth in recent years, though the government has found it hard to bring down inflation. Corruption remains widespread.
Russia is the world’s biggest gas producer, the second largest oil exporter and one of the top producers of aluminum, steel, palladium and nickel.
POPULATION:
142 million (January 1, 2008)
The population is declining and millions live below the poverty line, though average living standards have risen under Putin’s eight year presidency.
Most people live west of the Ural mountains and 80 percent are ethnic Russians, with Tartars, Ukrainians and Bashkirs the next biggest groups.
GEOGRAPHY:
Russia stretches over 7,700 km (4,800 miles) from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific and spans 11 time zones. It is the world’s biggest country at over 17 million square km (6.6 million square miles), nearly twice the size of the United States.
Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSL2821110620080228?sp=true
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