The People
According to the 1989 Soviet census, Russia had a population of 147,386,000. The population density was about 22 persons per square mile (9 per km2), less than one-third that of the United States. More than two-thirds of the people lived in the European part of Russia. The population density here was about 69 persons per square mile (27 per km2), about the same as that of the United States.
In 1989 there were 34 cities that had populations of more than 500,000:
About 82 per cent of the people are Great Russians. Tatars and Ukrainians together account for about 7 per cent of the population. The rest of the population is composed of about 100 different ethnic groups and nationalities. Those who live in European Russia include Armenians, Bashkirs, Bela-rusians, Chechens, Chuvash, Kalmyks, Os-setians, and Udmurts; those who live in Siberia include Altays, Khakass, Tungus-Manchurians, Tuvinians, and Yakuts.
Russia's many ethnic and national groups provide the basis for the administrative framework of the country. The largest groups have their own republics while the smaller groups have autonomous areas.
Russian, a Slavic language, is the official language. Other Slavic languages used in Russia include Ukrainian and Belarusian. Many non-Slavic languages are used in Russia, including Uralic, Turkic, Tungusic, and Mongolic languages.
Before the Revolution of 1917, the Russian Orthodox Church had a privileged position but was firmly under government control. In 1918 the Communists separated the church from the state and confiscated church property. As atheists, they persecuted all church groups with the intent of eradicating religion. Religious beliefs persisted, however, and Soviet leaders made some concessions, especially during World War II, when they permitted the Orthodox Church to elect a patriarch.
Although the Soviet constitution guaranteed the freedom to profess or not profess religious beliefs, in practice, religious activities were severely limited by the government until the late 1980's, when restrictions were relaxed. Shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the government abolished all restrictions on religious activities and began returning church property that had been confiscated by the Communists.
Today, it is estimated that 40 million people belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. Other religious groups include Baptists, Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews.
Under the czars, Russia had advanced only slightly beyond the feudal stage. At the end of the 19th century more than three-fourths of Russia's population were peasants. During the Soviet era, Russia underwent a social as well as a political and economic transformation. UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS,
The Russian standard of living rose greatly during the Soviet era. The people were better fed, housed, and clothed than ever before. Yet the standard in most respects was much below that in the United States, Canada, Japan, and many western European countries. Today, due to the difficulties in establishing a market-based economy, Russia's standard of living has declined.
A housing shortage has long been a problem. Apartments are crowded; kitchens and baths are usually shared by more than one family. To relieve the situation, many apartment buildings and prefabricated houses were built throughout the country. Foods are usually adequate, but they are often high-priced and lacking in variety.
Great advances were made in public health during the Soviet era. By the mid-1980's, the Soviet Union had the world's highest number of doctors and hospital beds relative to population. However, widespread air and water pollution as well as improper use and disposal of radioactive materials caused extensive health problems that have continued into the post-Soviet era. Basic health care is provided by the government.
The Russian people are music lovers. Concerts, operas, and ballets are generally well attended in large cities. There are many small music and dance groups throughout the country. Musical and dramatic programs reach mass audiences through radio and television. Jazz and rock music have become popular with the younger generation. Motion pictures are an attraction everywhere.
The circus, housed in permanent buildings in most large cities, is a favorite form of public entertainment. The Moscow Circus is world famous. Russia is also noted for its fine nature preserves and city parks, which attract many people, especially during the summer. Chess and dominoes are popular pastimes.
Sports, both spectator and participant, are also very popular. Russian athletes have excelled in many sports, including individual sports such as track and field, figure skating, weight lifting, cross-country skiing, and gymnastics, and team sports such as hockey, soccer, and basketball.
Before the Communist revolution of 1917, education was reserved for the upper classes. Leaders of the Communist party made education for the masses a chief goal. In 1917, 60 to 70 per cent of the people were illiterate. During the Soviet era, illiteracy was virtually eliminated. Education, however, was designed to serve the needs of the state, both practically and ideologically. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics,
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the organization of Russia's educational system generally remained the same as the former Soviet system. The curriculum, however, was changed to eliminate ideological training in Marxist-Leninist doctrine.
Preschool education is optional. It is provided in day-care nurseries (for children six months to three years of age) and kindergartens. Formal education begins at six or seven and is free and compulsory through 11 grades. The general education program is divided into three levels: primary (grades 1-3), middle (4-8), and secondary (9-11).
Along with general secondary schools, there are two types of specialized secondary schools: technical schools, which emphasize vocational instruction; and training schools, which help to prepare students for such professions as nursing and teaching. There are also schools for exceptionally talented children and for the disabled.
Admission to universities, technical institutes, and specialized colleges is based on competitive entrance examinations. Many students receive stipends for some or all expenses. Institutions of higher learning are located throughout Russia. Moscow State University is the largest in terms of enrollment.
Russia has many state and city symphony orchestras, some of which are internationally known. Among the most notable are the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.
Opera and ballet are highly respected arts. The Bolshoi Theater, in Moscow, is Russia's center for these arts. Especially noteworthy is the Bolshoi Ballet, a company renowned throughout the world. The Kirov Ballet (officially known as the Mariinsky Ballet), in St. Petersburg, and the Moiseyev Folk Dance Ensemble, in Moscow, are also internationally acclaimed. The leading legitimate theaters are in Moscow and St. Petersburg. There are children's theaters throughout Russia.
Russia has a number of famous museums. The Hermitage State Museum in St. Petersburg contains one of the world's foremost art collections. Other notable museums include the Tretyakov Gallery, the Kremlin Museums, the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, and the Museum of the Revolution, all in Moscow.
Libraries are found in most cities and towns. With more than 30 million volumes, the-Russian State Library in Moscow is Russia's largest library. Other important libraries include the Saltykov-Shchedrin Library, in St. Petersburg, and the Russian National Public Library for Science and Technology, in Moscow.
The 18th and 19th centuries brought brilliant developments in Russian poetry and prose. Romantic poetry reached its heights with Mikhail Lermontov and Aleksander Pushkin. Realistic fiction, reflecting social and political unrest, was best developed in the novels, plays, and short stories of Nikolai Gogol, Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Leo Tolstoy. Anton Chekhov is considered Russia's greatest playwright and one of the world's leading fiction writers. Outstanding writers active in the 20th century have included Maxim Gorky, the poet Anna Akhmatova, and Nobel Prize winners Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
Russian composers have produced many of the world's great symphonies, concertos, operas, and ballets. Mikhail Glinka is regarded as the father of nationalistic music in Russia. Also nationalistic is the music of such mid-19th-century composers as Aleksandr Borodin, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolai Rimski-Korsakov. The melodic music of Sergei Rachmaninoff and Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky is among the best loved in the world. Noted 20th-century composers include Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dimitri Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturian.
Russia has also produced outstanding performing artists. Among them were the pianist Anton Rubinstein, the basso Fyodor Chaliapin, and the conductor Serge Koussevitzky. Violinist David Oistrakh and pianists Emil Gilels and Sviatoslav Richter are among the many who had become prominent by the 1950's. Performers who won acclaim in the second half of the 20th century include the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich, the pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy, and the conductor Maxim Shostakovich.
Modern ballet is greatly indebted to the work of impresario Sergei Diaghilev and choreographer Michel Fokine. Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky are ballet immortals. In the theater Konstantin Stanislavsky was a famed actor and director.
Imperial Russia was famous for its religious paintings, especially for its brilliantly colored icons. Andrei Rublev (1360?-1430) is considered to have been the greatest Russian icon painter. Constructivism and Suprematism, 20th-century art movements, began in Russia. Noted 20th-century Russian artists include sculptors Vladimir Tatlin and Naum Gabo and painters Wassily Kandinsky, Marc Chagall, and Pavel Tchelitchew.
Leaders of Imperial Russia supported science from the time of Peter the Great. The most eminent Russian scientist of the 18th century was Mikhail Lomonosov. Lomonosov, who was also a writer and linguist, is considered to be Russia's first great scientist. During the 19th and early 20th centuries came several scientific achievements. Dmitri Mendeleev devised the periodic table of chemical elements. Ivan Pavlov, Nobel Prize-winning physiologist, pioneered studies of the conditioned reflex. Other notable scientists include Aleksandr Butlerov (chemist), Nikolai Lobachevsky (mathematician), Vasili Dokuchayev (soil scientist), Kliment Timiryazev (biologist), and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky ("father of space travel").
