Russia Economy
Russia, also known as the Russian Federation, is a country in northern Eurasia. Russia is the largest country in the world in terms of area (more than 6.6 million square miles). Russia shares its borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China and North Korea. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation in the world with more than 142 million inhabitants. The nation encompasses the entire northern Asia and 40% of the European continent. It spans 11 time zones and enjoys a varied climate. While European and Asian Russia enjoy a humid continental and subarctic climate, the Black Sea area near Sochi enjoys a subtropical climate.
The Russian economy has undergone massive changes since the fall of the Soviet Empire, transitioning from a state controlled, socialist structure to a more market based, and globally integrated economy. Economic reforms in the 1990s privatized most industries, and some energy and defense related sectors. Russia’s heavy reliance on commodity exports made the country vulnerable to the global economic crisis of 2008. The Russian economy has averaged 7% growth since the 1998 crisis, resulting in the emergence of its middle class. Though the Russian economy was one of the hardest hit during the 2008-2009 crisis, the signs of recovery were evident in 2H 2009. This has been due to the rising oil and commodity prices, and the government’s $200 billion rescue package to increase liquidity in the banking sector.
Russia Economy: GDP and Labor
Russia’s GDP – official exchange rate in 2009 was $1.255 trillion. The following chart shows Russia’s GDP (PPP) from 2007 to 2009 (data in USD trillion).
The next chart shows Russia’s GDP-real growth rate from 2007 to 2009. All data are in percentages.
The following chart illustrates Russia’s GDP-per capita from 2007 to 2009. All data are in USD.
Russia’s breakdown of GDP by composition is as follows (data in percentages):
Russia’s labor force totaled to 75.81 million in 2009. The rate of unemployment increased to 8.9% in 2009 from 6.5% in 2008. The following chart shows Russia’s composition of labor force by occupation (data in percentages).
