Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia
Russia: Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents was 17.1% in 2020. ▲ Rising
Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia, 1950–2020
Source: European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
In 2020, share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia stood at 17.1%. That is the highest value across all 15 years on record.
Compared with earlier readings it is up 3.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia peaked at 17.1% in 2020 and was at its lowest, 7.6%, in 1950.
That places Russia 84th out of 180 countries with data for 2020, putting it in the middle of the range.
The long-run direction has been consistently rising across the 15 years of available data.
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 7.7% | 7.6% | 7.7% | 2 |
| 1960s | 10.7% | 10.6% | 10.9% | 2 |
| 1970s | 13.3% | 12.3% | 14.4% | 2 |
| 1980s | 16.4% | 16.4% | 16.5% | 2 |
| 1990s | 16.2% | 15.4% | 17.0% | 2 |
| 2000s | 16.2% | 15.9% | 16.5% | 2 |
| 2010s | 16.7% | 16.5% | 17.0% | 2 |
| 2020s | 17.1% | 17.1% | 17.1% | 1 |
Countries ranked near Russia
More reference data data for Russia
- Temperature anomalies by month -1.2 °C (2026)
- Summer temperature anomalies 1.68 °C (2026)
- Spring temperature anomalies 1.87 °C (2026)
- Autumn temperature anomalies 1.03 °C (2025)
- Universal right to vote in practice 2 (2025)
- Winter temperature anomalies 0.367 °C (2025)
- Elected parliament 1 (2025)
- Universal right to vote 2 (2025)
- Civil liberties rating 6 (2025)
- Free country 0 (2025)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia?
- Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents in Russia was 17.1% in 2020, according to European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Russia?
- The highest recorded value was 17.1% in 2020.
- What is the lowest share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents recorded in Russia?
- The lowest recorded value was 7.6% in 1950.
- How does Russia rank for share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents?
- Russia ranks 84th out of 180 countries with data for 2020.
- Is share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents rising or falling in Russia?
- Over the last ten years it is up 3.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is rising.
- Where does this Russia data come from?
- The figures come from European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living in cities with more than 1 million residents. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 15 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of the total population living in cities with 1 million or more people. City boundaries are defined using a consistent global approach based on satellite imagery and population data.