t of Urals; vast coniferous forest
and tundra in Siberia, deserts in Central Asia, mountains in south

Natural resources: self-sufficient in oil, natural gas, coal, and
strategic minerals (except bauxite, alumina, tantalum, tin, tungsten, fluorspar,
and molybdenum), timber, gold, manganese, lead, zinc, nickel, mercury, potash,
phosphates

Land use: 10% arable land; NEGL% permanent crops; 17% meadows and
pastures; 41% forest and woodland; 32% other; includes 1% irrigated

Environment: despite size and diversity, small percentage of land
is arable and much is too far north; some of most fertile land is water
deficient or has insufficient growing season; many better climates have
poor soils; hot, dry, desiccating sukhovey wind affects south;
desertification; continuous permafrost over much of Siberia is a major
impediment to development

Note: largest country in world, but unfavorably located in
relation to major sea lanes of world

- People
Population: 290,938,469 (July 1990), growth rate 0.7% (1990)

Birth rate: 18 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 24 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 65 years male, 74 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 2.4 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Soviet(s); adjective--Soviet

Ethnic divisions: Russian 50.78%, Ukrainian 15.45%, Uzbek 5.84%,
Byelorussian 3.51%, Kazakh 2.85%, Azerbaijan 2.38%, Armenian 1.62%,
Tajik 1.48%, Georgian 1.39%, Moldavian 1.17%, Lithuanian 1.07%,
Turkmen 0.95%, Kirghiz 0.89%, Latvian 0.51%, Estonian 0.36%, others 9.75%

Religion: 20% Russian Orthodox; 10% Muslim; 7% Protestant,
Georgian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic; less than 1% Jewish;
60% atheist (est.)

Language: Russian (official); more than 200 languages and dialects (at
least 18 with more than 1 million speakers); 75% Slavic group, 8% other
Indo-European, 12% Altaic, 3% Uralian, 2% Caucasian

Literacy: 99%

Labor force: 152,300,000 civilians; 80% industry and other nonagricultural
fields, 20% agriculture; shortage of skilled labor (1989)

Organized labor: 98% of workers are union members; all trade unions are
organized within the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions (AUCCTU) and
conduct their work under guidance of the Communist party

- Government
Long-form name: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics;