European Russia

Russia in Europe and Asia with current administrative divisions (de facto boundaries[note 1]).

European Russia is the western part of Russia that is a part of Eastern Europe. With a population of 110 million people, European Russia has about 77% of Russia's population, but covers less than 25% of Russia's territory. European Russia includes Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two largest cities in Russia.

The boundaries between continents are largely a matter of convention. However, the eastern boundary of Europe is generally considered to be along the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caucasus Mountains, the Turkish Straits and the border with Kazakhstan. The Southern part of European Russia has some small areas that are geographically south of the Caucasus Mountain range, and therefore are geographically in Asia; this includes the city of Sochi.

The other, eastern, part of the country is part of northern Asia, and is known as North Asia, also called Asian Russia or Siberia. Europe is also a subcontinent within Eurasia,[1] making the whole of Russia a part of the Eurasian continent.

Demographics

Ethnic map of the European Russian Empire prior to the outbreak of World War I

Russia is not proportionately populated between its larger Asian portion, which contains about 23% of the country's population, and its smaller European portion, which contains about 77%. The European portion contains about 110 million people out of Russia's total population of about 144 million in an area covering nearly 4,000,000 km2 (1,500,000 sq mi); (making it by far the largest European country) an average of 27.5 people per km2 (70 per sq mi).[2]:6[2]:10

The eastern portion of Russia, mostly encompassing Siberia, is part of Asia and makes up more than 75% of the territory with 22% of the country's population at 2.5 people per km2 (6.5 per sq mi).[2]:6

History

The term “European Russia” was used in the Russian Empire to refer to traditional East Slavic territories under Russian control, including what is now Belarus and most of Ukraine (Dnieper Ukraine).

Alignment with administrative divisions

The administrative districts (on a large scale called federal districts) of the Russian Federation do not exactly line up with European Russia, but they are decent approximations, depending on exactly how Europe is defined. There are two major trends, one to use administrative divisions north of the mouth of the Ural River and one to draw an imaginary line from the Ural River, through the city of Yekaterinburg.

The following administrative districts are overwhelmingly European:

Federal districts of Russia
Name of district Area
(km²)		 2017 population
 Population density Continent notes
Central Federal District 650,200 39,209,582[3] 59.658 Europe
North Caucasian Federal District 170,400 9,775,770[3] 56.58 Europe
Northwestern Federal District 1,687,000 13,899,310[3] 8.25 Europe
Southern Federal District[note 1] 447,900 16,428,458[3] 33.46 Europe
Volga Federal District 1,037,000 29,636,574[3] 28.63 Predominantly Europe
Ural Federal District 1,818,500 12,345,803[3] 6.86 Predominantly Asia
Sum of 6 Federal Districts[note 2] 3,992,500 108,949,694[3] 27.22 Predominantly Europe
  1. 1 2 Includes the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol which are de facto administrated by Russia but considered part of Ukraine by most other states.
  2. ↑ Does not account for the following:
    Volga Federal District has 4 raions entirely in Asia, one raion mostly in Asia, one raion bisected between Europe and Asia, two cities bisected between Europe and Asia and one settlement fully in Asia, which amount to 280,000 people living in 30,000 km² in Asia (as defined as east of the Ural River).
    Ural Federal District has roughly 200,000 people living in 1,700 km² in Europe (west of the Ural River).

See also

References

  1. ↑ Hans Slomp (2011). Europe: A Political Profile. Retrieved 2014-09-10.
  2. 1 2 3 Vishnevsky, Anatoly (15 August 2000). "Replacement Migration: Is it a solution for Russia?" (PDF). EXPERT GROUP MEETING ON POLICY RESPONSES TO POPULATION AGEING AND POPULATION DECLINE /UN/POP/PRA/2000/14. United Nations Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. pp. 6, 10. Retrieved 2008-01-14.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Population 1 January 2015 Estimate – Federal State Statistics Service Russia". Federal State Statistics Service Russia.

Coordinates: 55°N 40°E / 55°N 40°E / 55; 40

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