• Fish catch per year: 3.72m tonnes
• Oil production and reserves: 8.54m b/d (69.1bn barrels)
• Estimated livestock resources: 26.5m cattle, 17.3m pigs, 13.7m sheep, 337m chickens
• Main mineral resources: Coal, oil, gas, gold, diamonds, iron, aluminum, manganese

Electricity generation

Russia is a major producer of oil, natural gas, and electricity, among other resources. Confirmed reserves make Russia the world's leading country in terms of hydrocarbons, gold, other precious metals, diamonds, and timber.

Russia has been slow to open up its mineral sector to foreign concerns, but is starting to realize the potential of its vast resources. In 2003 foreign firms invested in a mammoth $10 billion liquefied natural gas plant in Sakhalin – set to be the world's largest integrated oil and gas project.

However, geographic remoteness has held back exploitation, while the fact that some of the richest deposits are located in national territories such as Tatarstan and Sakha (Yakutia) in Siberia has turned the ownership of these resources into a delicate political issue.

Consumption and spending

Wealth disparities have increased sharply. A small minority made huge profits from the dismantling of the old Soviet command economy, while 20% of the population live below the government's "subsistence minimum." The replacement of benefits, such as free health care and transportation, by cash payments is likely to impoverish veterans and pensioners further.

A growing number of dollar millionaires flaunt their wealth, especially in Moscow. Organized crime bosses are Russian society's wealthiest group. Russia is now the biggest buyer of Rolls Royces. There are thousands of Russian offshore bank accounts; the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has been a favorite location.

• Total number of visitors per year: 7.94m visitors
• Tourism trend: Down 62% in 2001–2002

Main tourist arrivals

The breakup of the previous monopoly tourist agency, Intourist, has led to a vast expansion of tourism opportunities: each region is keen to earn hard currency and to attract rich visitors. Russia now ranks seventh in the world as a tourist destination.

Moscow and St. Petersburg remain favorite destinations, where hotels tend either to be for the well-off or of a basic standard. Near St. Petersburg, Novgorod has many fine churches, and the Pskov area is celebrated as the setting for many of Pushkin's works, including Eugene Onegin and Boris Godunov.

At the luxury end of the market, trips from St. Petersburg to Tashkent on former president Brezhnev's official train are now available. River trips down the Volga and visits to medieval monasteries are increasingly popular. Tourists can also explore forests or fish for salmon in the Kola Peninsula. The defense sector has opened up to tourism and now offers flights in MiG jets, or rides in Russian T-80 tanks. Even the space industry has begun to court tourists.

Many parts of Russia remain inaccessible to most travelers. The Communist-era ban on foreigners visiting the Urals has been lifted, but the area still has very few facilities. Resorts such as the subtropical Sochi on the Black Sea, where powerful Russians have dachas (country houses), have experienced a building boom.