Russia’s population in 2021 hit147.2 million, the state-owned Rossiiskaya Gazeta daily reported Monday, citing census data.
The Rosstat statistics agency said Russia’s population increased 1.4% since the previous census conducted in 2010.
The growth came as a result of migration – without migrants moving to Russia, the population would have recorded a significant decline.
Former Soviet countries, led by Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan, contributed to 93.5% of the migrants who settled in Russia over the 11-year period, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
The census data also showed that four more cities in Russia have passed the 1-million population mark, bringing the total number of such cities to 16.
The new cities include the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk; Voronezh south of Moscow; Krasnodar in southern Russia; and Perm, which is close to the Ural mountains.
If migration is discounted, Russia’s population has been in near-constant decline for decades. Losses were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic, which led last year to Russia’s largest natural population decline since the end of the Soviet Union.
Rosstat carried out the census between Oct. 15 and Nov. 14, 2021.
