The population in what is now the Russian Federation has undergone several major shocks in the twentieth century, including large-scale rural famines in the 1920s and 1930s and the loss of millions of citizens in World War II. According to demographic experts, the early 1990s may be the start of a more gradual but potentially powerful new shift. Beginning in 1992, the population has suffered a net loss that is projected to continue at least through the first decade of the next century. This phenomenon is caused by a combination of economic, political, and ethnographic factors.

Russia’s total population in 2001 was around at 145,470,200, making the nation the sixth most populous, after China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union the number of immigrants to Russia has exceeded the number of Russians leaving the nation. the rate of natural increase -the number of births compared to the number of deathshas been negative since 1992. In 2001 the birth rate was 9.3 per 1,000, while the death rate was 13.8 per 1,000.

U.S.S.R., Russia displays the greatest ethnic variety, with censuses recognizing more than 70 distinct nationalities. Many of these are extremely small—in some cases consisting of only a few thousand individuals—and, in addition to Russians, only a handful of groups have more than a million members each: Tatars, Ukrainians, Chuvash, Bashkir, Belarusians, and Mordvins. Russians, the overwhelming majority, constitute about four-fifths of the total. The multiplicity of peoples is reflected in 21 minority republics, and, within the Russian republic, there are 10 autonomous districts and an autonomous region. In most of these divisions, the eponymous nationality