This article details the geographical distribution of Russian speakers. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the status of the Russian language often became a matter of controversy. Some Post-Soviet states adopted policies of derussification aimed at reversing former trends of Russification, while Belarus under Alexander Lukashenko and the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin reintroduced Russification policies in the 1990s and 2000s, respectively.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, derussification occurred in the newly-independent Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Kars Oblast, the last of which became part of Turkey.
The new Soviet Union initially implemented a policy of Korenizatsiya, which was aimed in some ways at the reversal of the Tsarist Russification of the non-Russian areas of the country. Joseph Stalin mostly reversed the implementation of Korenizatsiya by the 1930s, not so much by changing the letter of the law, but by reducing its practical effects and by introducing de facto Russification. The Soviet system heavily promoted Russian as the "language of interethnic communication" and "language of world communism".
Eventually, in 1990, Russian became legally the official all-Union language of the Soviet Union, with constituent republics gaining the right to declare their own regional languages.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, about 25 million Russians (about a sixth of the former Soviet Russians) found themselves outside Russia and were about 10% of the population of the post-Soviet states other than Russia. Millions of them later became refugees from various interethnic conflicts.
Statistics
Native speakers
Country SpeakersYear Ref. Number Percentage 118,581,514 85.7% 2010 14,273,67029.6%2001 6,672,96470.2%2009Data note: "Data refer to mother tongue, defined as the language usually spoken in the individual's home in his or her early childhood." (From the Footnotes section in the cited source) 3,793,800 21.2% 2017 Based on a 2016 population of 17,855,000 (UN Statistics Division ) 720,300 2.1% 2021 698,757 33.8% 2011 482,200 8.9% 2009 383,11829.6%2011 135,5651.9%2022 264,162 9.7% 2014 190,733 6.8%2021 77,1900.8%2019 45,920 1.2% 2014 40,5980.5%2012 23,4840.8%2011 54,8740.2%2022 8,4460.1%2001 220,3600.6%2021 1,5920.04%2011 21,6422.3%2021 96,3610.9%2021Included people with two mother tongues. 87,5521.6%2021 1,877,000 2.3% 2024 2,104 0.14% 2009 1,155,96015%2011Based on a 2011 population of 7,706,400 (Central Bureau of Statistics of Israel)3,3250.6%2021 40 0.003% 2011 7,8960.2%2006 16,8330.3%2012 63,2710.17%2021Included all people who declared that they spoke Russian at home; 58,451 of them also spoke another language at home. 23,487 0.11% 2011 3,1790.04%2011 4,9470.10%2021147,8640.3%2021 29,0000.3%2012 1,004,815 0.3% 2023 Total151,214,523
Subnational territories Territory Country L1 speakers Percentage Year Reference Harju County 208,517 37.7% 2011 Ida-Viru County 121,680 81.6% 2011 Riga Region 326,478 55.8% 2011 Pieriga Region 87,769 25.9% 2011 Vidzeme Region 16,682 8.4% 2011 Kurzeme Region 47,213 19.3% 2011 Zemgale Region 54,761 23.3% 2011 Latgale Region 165,854 60.3% 2011 Klaipėda County 34,074 10.57% 2021 Utena County 18,551 14.54% 2021 Vilnius County 109,045 13.45% 2021
Native and non-native speakers Former Soviet Union Country Speakers Percentage Year Reference 1,906,327 65.3% 2022 Included 13,146 native speakers and 1,893,181 non-native speakers. Number of native speakers was likely to be an undercount since it only explicitly counted ethnic Russians. 643,737 6.7% 2019 Excluded territory controlled by Republic of Artsakh at that time, and included only those who spoke Russian fluently 887,270 66.6% 2021 Includes 379,210 native and 508,060 non-native speakers. 3,181,590 87.0% 2019 14,391,085 83.7% 2021 3,432,633 49.5% 2022 Data referred to the resident population. Included 321,947 native speakers (of which 282,777 were ethnic Russians and 39,170 were of other ethnic groups) and 3,110,686 L2 speakers (of which 61,460 were ethnic Russians 3,049,226 were of other ethnic groups). 1,894,158 67.4% 2021 Includes 190,733 native and 1,703,425 non-native speakers. 1,403,776 76.2% 2024 134,319,23399.4%2021Data note: "Including all of persons who stated each language spoken, whether as their only language or as one of several languages. Where a person reported more than one language spoken, they have been counted in each applicable group."
Percentage excluded 12,056,452 people who didn't report language proficiency. 1,963,857 25.9% 2010 1,359,45519.3%2022Included 135,565 native speakers and 1,183,890 non-native speakers 22,346,160 68.0% 2006
Other countries Country Percentage Year Reference 10.8% 2024 3.2% 2024 6.5% 2024 1.6% 2011 2.0% 2024 7.1% 2024 1.1% 2024
Asia Armenia
In Armenia, Russian has no official status but is recognized as a minority language under the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 15,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 1 million active speakers. 30% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 2% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work. Russian is spoken by 1.4% of the population according to a 2009 estimate from the World Factbook.
In 2010, in a significant pullback to derussification, Armenia voted to re-introduce Russian-medium schools.
Azerbaijan
In Azerbaijan, Russian has no official status but is a lingua franca of the country. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 250,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 2 million active speakers. 26% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 5% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work.
Research in 2005–2006 concluded that government officials did not consider Russian to be a threat to the strengthening role of the Azerbaijani language in independent Azerbaijan. Rather, Russian continued to have value given the proximity of Russia and strong economic and political ties. However, it was seen as self-evident that to be successful, citizens needed to be proficient in Azerbaijani. The Russian language was co-official in the breakaway Armenian-populated Republic of Artsakh.
China In the 1920s, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Nationalist Party sent influential figures to study abroad in the Soviet Union, including Deng Xiaoping and Chiang Ching-kuo, who both were classmates and fluent in Russian. The relevant paragraph is included as an excerpt in Historically, due to ties and geographic proximity between China and the Soviet Union, Russian was the primary foreign language of instruction as opposed to English. However, after the Sino-Soviet Split and upon reform and opening up English eclipsed Chinese as the foreign language of instruction. Now, Russian is generally only spoken by the small Russian communities in the border provinces of Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang. Russian is official in the Enhe Russian ethnic township in Ergun, Inner Mongolia.
Israel
Russian is also spoken in Israel by at least 1,000,000 ethnic Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union, according to the 1999 census. The Israeli press and websites regularly publish material in Russian, and there are Russian newspapers, television stations, schools, and social media outlets based in the country.
Kazakhstan In Kazakhstan, Russian is not a state language, but according to Article 7 of the Constitution of Kazakhstan, its usage enjoys equal status to that of the Kazakh language in state and local administration. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 4,200,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 10 million active speakers. 63% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 46% used it as the main language with family, friends or at work. According to a 2001 estimate from the World Factbook, 95% of the population can speak Russian. Large Russian-speaking communities still exist in northern Kazakhstan, and ethnic Russians comprise 25.6% of Kazakhstan's population. The 2009 census reported that 10,309,500 people, or 84.8% of the population aged 15 and above, could read and write well in Russian and understand the spoken language.
Kyrgyzstan In Kyrgyzstan, Russian is an official language per Article 5 of the Constitution of Kyrgyzstan. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 600,000 native speakers of Russian in the country, and 1.5 million active speakers. 38% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 22% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work.
The 2009 census states that 482,200 people speak Russian as a native language, including 419,000 ethnic Russians, and 63,200 from other ethnic groups, for a total of 8.99% of the population. Additionally, 1,854,700 residents of Kyrgyzstan aged 15 and above fluently speak Russian as a second language, 49.6% of the population in that age group.
In 2011, President Roza Otunbaeva controversially reopened the debate about Kyrgyz getting a more dominant position in the country.
Tajikistan In Tajikistan, Russian is the language of interethnic communication under the Constitution of Tajikistan. According to estimates from Demoskop Weekly, in 2004 there were 90,000 native speakers of Russian in the country and 1 million active speakers. 28% of the population was fluent in Russian in 2006, and 7% used it as the main language with family or friends or at work. The World Factbook notes that Russian is widely used in government and business.
After independence, Tajik was declared the state language, with Russian enshrined as the "language for interethnic communication" in the constitution. In 2009, a law was passed stating that all official papers in the country should have a version in the Tajik language. Russian media erroneously reported that as Russian losing its official status in the country. However, president Emomali Rahmon rejected these claims and clarified that the law regulates the scope of usage of only Tajik language, without changing the status of Russian, adding that "all laws and presidential decrees continue to be adopted in Tajik and Russian languages, dozens of newspapers and magazines are published in Russian, which, in my opinion, reflects the real state of affairs". Further rejecting claims of "persecution", Rahmon pointed out that "Russian is taught in all schools without exception, of which there are more than four thousand in total", with more than 31,000 students further studying Russian as their major in universities. He added: "We are clearly aware that for decades the Russian language has been and remains a window into science for us, a means of communication with the outside world, and wasting this capital would be to our own detriment."
The law was edited in 2011 to clear up the confusion, with Russian media claiming that "Russian language's status was restored", despite keeping its status in the constitution the whole time.
Current law states that all minority ethnic groups in the country have the right to choose the language in which they want their children to be educated.
On April 17, 2019, Russia and Tajikistan signed an agreement on the construction and material and technical equipment of schools in the cities of Dushanbe, Kulob, Khujand, Bokhtar and Tursunzade providing education in the Russian language. Opening the new Russian schools, President Rahmon emphasized that the Constitution of Tajikistan defines Russian as a language of inter-ethnic communication, and this constitutional provision is being implemented through the widespread study of the Russian language from the second grade onwards in all schools. Emomali Rahmon also declared 2023 the Year of the Russian Language in Tajikistan.