Russia - This is undoubtedly a unique country in many respects, with its own unique history and multifaceted culture. After all, where else in the world can you find such a quantity? nationalities, crops, religions, collected in one territory within one state. We should also not forget that Russia- this is 1/6 of the land, largest country in the whole world . It would seem that such a territory should contain a countless number of settlements. But in reality it turns out that this is not entirely true.
Yes - in European part of our state There is a fairly high density of settlements. But the further you move east, the more space there will be wildlife. And it’s not like that anymore city – small village It won't be that easy to find. And in this regard, many today are interested in the same question - how many cities are there in Russia numbered today? We will try to give you the most comprehensive answer.
What is considered a city?
- The situation with settlements in Russia quite specific. The fact is that by modern standards, a city is officially considered a populated place in which more than 14 thousand people and most of its population is employed in areas other than agriculture. An additional point is the presence of any industrial enterprise, listed as city-forming . But the last point is not particularly important today. So, many of the Russian settlements, if you follow this logic, should not be cities at all. Some of them have a population less than 12 thousand. In some, the bulk of the population works in agriculture. This situation was also affected by the collapse Soviet Union and the subsequent crisis.
- But, basically, most Russian cities traces its history back to centuries. For example, in Middle Ages it could become any settlement that somehow distinguished itself before the monarch. Some of them were originally laid out with reference to this type. So, many of the best cities Russia, which have their own rich history, were built by representatives of the royal family or inherited from the times Kievan Rus. Which, by the way, was also called by visiting Vikings Gardarika – « country of cities" For the most part, they are settlements located in the European part of our state. For example, cities Golden Ring of Russia – which are shining examples today ancient Russian culture.
On the question of the number of cities in Russia
- During the Soviet years list of Russian cities was slightly replenished due to grandiose government projects, during which new industrial centers were developed. On Ural, Siberia new settlements were born. Such as Magnitogorsk. Despite their young age, today these are quite large cities Russia, powerful strategic and business centers, without which it is already difficult to imagine our country.
- Number of cities in Russian Federation was constantly changing until recently, as you already understood. Today this situation is more permanent. According to the latest statistics, in Russia there are 1100 settlements . Big ones and very small ones.
- The most beautiful cities in Russia , probably represented by the same Golden Ring , which forms the basis of the famous tourist route. These include: Rostov, Yaroslavl, Sergiev Posad, Ivanovo, Kostroma, Suzdal, Vladimir, Pereslavl-Zalessky. No less beautiful are settlements with millions of people , of which there are in our country 11 pieces. This - Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Ekaterinburg, Samara, Kazan, Omsk,Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Chelyabinsk, Ufa.
- Also in Russia There are many settlements whose population ranges from 500 thousand. to 1 million. Human. Among them - Permian, Krasnoyarsk, Penza, Saratov,Voronezh, Yaroslavl, Barnaul, Irkutsk, Izhevsk, Ryazan, Krasnodar, Astrakhan,Tomsk, Togliatti,Tyumen, Vladivostok, Orenburg, Makhachkala, Lipetsk. And not only that - the population of Russian cities exceeds the half-million mark in many cases. Especially if they are regional centers.
- We hope we have satisfied your curiosity by answering in detail the question of how many cities there are in Russia, as well as what features accompany them.
According to the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, the population of Russia as of January 1, 2018 is 146 million 880 thousand people. According to this indicator, our country ranks 9th in the world, behind such countries as China, India, the USA and Brazil. 109 million Russians, which is 74.2% of the total population, live in cities and towns, and 37.8 million (25.8%) live in rural areas. There are 1112 cities in the Russian Federation.
Urban settlements are divided into different categories: small urban settlements have a population of up to 20 thousand inhabitants, medium ones - up to 100 thousand, and large ones - up to 250 thousand. If a city has a population of from 250 to 500 thousand people, then it is already considered large city, and settlements with a population of half a million to a million are the largest.
Cities with a population of over a million
Millionaire cities have a population above 1 million. There are 15 such cities in our country:
Moscow - 12 million 380 thousand people - the capital of Russia, the main and largest city in Russia in terms of population and area, in which all state authorities and the residence of the President are located;
St. Petersburg - 5 million 281 thousand people - the largest scientific, educational, economic and transport center in the North-West, it is also often called the “cultural capital of Russia”;
Novosibirsk - 1 million 602 thousand people - one of the largest Siberian cities, which is a commercial, industrial, educational and scientific center of the region;
Yekaterinburg - 1 million 455 thousand people - the largest city in the Ural Federal District, the scientific and cultural center of the region;
Nizhny Novgorod - 1 million 261 thousand people - one of the oldest Russian cities, founded 8 centuries ago and today is the leading cultural, industrial and economic center of the Volga Federal District;
Kazan - 1 million 231 thousand people - the capital of Tatarstan, a city rapidly developing in political, economic, educational and tourist areas;
Chelyabinsk - 1 million 198 thousand people - “The city of labor valor and glory”, with many military industry enterprises, but with a rather unfavorable environmental situation, which significantly affects the outflow of residents from the region;
Omsk - 1 million 178 thousand people - the center of the military and aerospace industry of the Siberian Federal District;
Samara - 1 million 169 thousand people - “City of Labor Valor and Glory”, with a developed food, oil refining and engineering industry;
Rostov-on-Don - 1 million 125 thousand people - the largest city of the Southern Federal District, a scientific, educational, economic and transport center of the south of Russia, rightfully considered the southern capital of the country;
Ufa - 1 million 115 thousand people - the capital of Bashkortostan, where all the authorities of the Republic are located, the 5th largest city in the country, the oil, industrial and sports center of the region;
Krasnoyarsk - 1 million 82 thousand people - the center of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the second largest constituent entity of the Russian Federation, with a developed chemical and woodworking industry;
Perm - 1 million 48 thousand people - the most important transport hub, industrial, economic and logistics center in the Urals;
The city of Voronezh - 1 million 39 thousand people - the homeland of the Russian airborne troops and the Russian Navy, at whose shipyard back in 1700 the first domestic battleship was built according to the design of Peter I himself;
Volgograd - 1 million 15 thousand people - unfortunately, one of the most disadvantaged cities with a million population, in which the number of citizens has decreased by 8 thousand over 8 years.
In the next few years, the list of millionaire cities may be supplemented by cities whose number of citizens approaches the 1 million mark:
Krasnodar - 881 thousand people - one of the most beautiful and actively developing administrative centers in the south of Russia, the number of residents of which increases annually by 30 thousand people, repeatedly recognized by Forbes magazine as the “Russian city with the best conditions for doing business”;
Saratov - 845 thousand people - a large economic and cultural center, as well as the main transport hub of the Volga region with a fairly developed engineering and chemical industry;
Tyumen - 744 thousand people - a growing economic, transport, scientific and educational center in the Ural Federal District, with many enterprises producing metal structures, electrical equipment, as well as electronic and optical devices.
The remaining 70% of urban residents come from all other cities in the country, the number of which is less than 1 million. There are 25 largest settlements with a population from 500 thousand to 1 million people in Russia, 37 large ones (up to half a million inhabitants), and cities whose population less than 250 thousand - 1035, with the largest number of small and medium-sized cities with a population of less than 50 thousand inhabitants - 788.
Ratings of Russian cities
Attractive for tourists
As you know, analysts love to create various kinds of ratings. They do not ignore Russian cities either. Thus, based on the results of the 2017 tourist season, the TurStat analytical center identified the most attractive cities for tourists in our country. The top three, without a doubt, are Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sochi. Also very popular were the incredibly distant Vladivostok and the original and dynamically developing Kazan. The top ten also includes Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Astrakhan, as well as the Russian golden ring cities Suzdal, Sergiev Posad and Vladimir. The top twenty most popular tourist destinations include Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Sevastopol, Veliky Novgorod, Kolomna and Vologda. All cities with rich historical and cultural heritage. But the favorite southern resorts of Anapa, Gelendzhik and Yalta were not included in this list.
The poorest
The top 10 poorest cities in Russia take into account the standard of living of their residents, the socio-economic situation, the environmental situation and several other factors. The highest poverty index rates are in Voronezh, Naberezhnye Chelny, Barnaul, Lipetsk, Rostov-on-Don, Saratov, Volgograd, Penza, Astrakhan and Tolyatti. In these cities, more than 50% of the population is low-income, and in Lipetsk more than 15% of residents are below the poverty line. Many of these cities are “famous” for their broken roads, dirty streets and poorly developed social and health services. In Volgograd, more than 35% of university graduates have problems finding employment. And the inability of the domestic automobile industry to compete with foreign manufacturers affected the incomes of citizens and the economy of the entire city of Tolyatti.
The best places to stay
However, there is also an opposite rating - a list of the best Russian cities to live in. When compiling it, the following indicators were taken into account: purchasing power and employment of residents, housing conditions and the demographic situation in the locality, as well as environmental conditions and the crime rate. First place, oddly enough, is occupied by Tyumen. Of course, one can argue for a long time about the ecology of a given region, but a set of indicators is important in creating a rating, which is why Tyumen has taken the lead. Moscow and Kazan are in second and third places, respectively. The top five includes the southern cities of Krasnodar and Grozny. In the top ten you can also see St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Krasnoyarsk.
Great Russia stretches across the Eurasian continent for thousands of kilometers. The length of the country's coastline is considered the largest on the globe. This vast territory contains many large and small settlements - villages, towns, cities. But how many cities are there in Russia? Not many people even know the approximate number of settlements in their country.
How many cities are there in Russia?
According to the results of the population census conducted in 2010, the number of cities throughout the country is 1100. But this figure is not accurate, since this number is constantly changing - cities are abolished, included in larger administrative units, and they cease to exist as a separate city. On the other hand, cities sometimes appear as large urban-type settlements receive city status.
After the All-Russian Population Census, a number of changes occurred. Thus, as many as three cities in the Moscow region ceased to exist on the map of the country for the reason that they became part of the capital. Similar transformations occurred with cities such as Klimovsk, which was included in Podolsk, or Zheleznodorozhny, which became part of the city of Balashikha.
But in the Amur region in 2015, the village of Uglegorsk was transformed into an administrative unit - the city of Tsiolkovsky.
The annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2015 significantly improved the statistics. Due to this, as many as 17 cities were added to the list at once.
In 2016, another city was added to the list - the village of Sunzha in Ingushetia received city status.
Simple arithmetic allows you to find out that by 2017, 1113 cities can be counted on the map of Russia.
Cities with a population of over a million in the country
The latest population census showed that in Russia there are as many as 12 million-plus cities. More than a million people live in these settlements, and some have populations of several million. Cities with a population of over a million primarily include Moscow and St. Petersburg. They occupy the first positions in terms of population.
A little more than one million people live in Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Samara, Chelyabinsk and Rostov-on-Don, Ufa and Volgograd. These administrative units of the country have a population of one to one and a half million people.
Of course, the main and largest city in the country is Moscow, the capital. This is where the legislative and executive authorities are located. The Kremlin, the residence of the head of state, rises on Red Square. The population according to the census is 11551.9 million people.
St. Petersburg - a cozy city on the Neva or the Northern capital is considered the second largest and most populous city in the Russian Federation. It is an important economic, historical, cultural and scientific center of the country. By the way, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation is located in St. Petersburg. 4868.5 million people live in St. Petersburg.
Novosibirsk takes third place. True, the gap in the number of residents compared to the two capitals of Russia is very large - there are only 1485.3 million inhabitants.
Interestingly, Russia ranks fourth in the world in terms of the number of megacities. Only India, China and Brazil are ahead of the Russian Federation.
The trend towards population growth in large cities has always existed, as people flocked to megacities for self-realization, improved living conditions, for the sake of receiving a quality education and in search of a good job. Nowadays, this trend is only increasing - large cities are growing, the number of residents in them is increasing every year. The given data on the number of residents in the country’s cities may no longer be entirely relevant, since the increase in new people occurs every minute.
Major cities of the Russian Federation
There are much more cities in the country with populations ranging from 500 thousand to 1 million people. There are 25 of them. These are large administrative centers of provinces and regional centers.
The list of cities with a population from 250 thousand to half a million includes 43. And the number of cities with a population from 100 to 250 thousand people is 90. The remaining numbers are for small and medium-sized cities, of which there are a predominant number.
It is worth saying that in Russia even a small city has its own unique history and unique cultural heritage. Sometimes in small, inconspicuous cities of the country, amazing historical monuments have been preserved that are worthy of close attention.
Cathedrals, temples, monasteries, ancient buildings - all this amazes with its unique beauty and amazing history. The nature of Russia is also delightful, which advantageously emphasizes the special character of settlements. Many cities in the country are interesting sites for tourism, because almost everywhere you can find stunning corners that are interesting from a historical, cultural point of view and attractive for their beauty.
Most tourists visit Moscow and St. Petersburg. Undoubtedly, these two cities contain the most attractive attractions and historically significant places. But once you get into the outback, you understand that it is here that the true soul of the Russian people is clearly visible, it is in such small towns that the originality of Russian architecture and the extraordinary power of the talent of the Russian person are visible! Each of the 1,100 cities of Russia is unique. Each city deserves special attention!
