Transport in Russia

Russia has a population of about 140 million, which has been reducing since 1995. Seventy-three per cent live in urban areas. It has the largest land area of over 17,000 square kilometres of all the countries included in the database, and a population density that is three times that of Australia. Russia's road network is comparatively sparse, having the lowest road density of all the countries included in the Transport Statistics Programme. Roads were one of the least-used forms of transportation in the Soviet Union, a characteristic that has continued in the Russian Federation. Soviet industry placed little emphasis on the production of automobiles and other modes of personal transport, and the privately owned vehicle was a relatively rare phenomenon. As such the demand for road construction was small. Railways remain the predominant mode of transport.

Russia has by far the highest number of road accident deaths per million inhabitants of the countries included in the Transport Statistics Programme, although in absolute numbers are less than China, India or the USA. More road accident fatalities occur outside urban areas, but some 8,000 occur on the motorway network alone. The rate of road deaths per unit traffic in Russia is very high compared to the rates for other countries, about ten times that of Poland and 60 times that of Britain.

The information you see above is just a sample of what we have available in the Transport Statistics Database. Additional information can be accessed by using the Table & Graph Builder. Data about Russia can be found in the following data sets:

• General & Infrastructure
• Energy & Emissions
• Safety
• Traffic & Travel
• Vehicle Stock

• Federal State Statistics Service
• Federal State Statistics Service - Transport Data