1. Longest Railroad in the world
Trans Siberian railway is undoubtedly the longest railway in the world, connecting the capital Moscow with the farthest city in the east, Vladivostok. The latter is a port city, facing the sea of Japan. The railway itself is more than 5,700 miles long, spanning eight time zones and taking eight long days to complete the journey.
2. Tetris game is from Russia.
One of the most popular game in the world in the 90s was invented by one Soviet software engineer in 1984.
3. Largest country in the world in terms of land mass.
Russian is the largest country in the world equivalent to 11% of the world total land mass. That area is 25 times the size of Myanmar. Yet most of the land mass (77%) is Siberia, not suitable for habitation due to extremely cold and challenging climate.
4. Gender imbalance.
Women outnumber man in Russian. There are only 86 men per 100 women in Russia. All previous Soviet republic countries also have similar ratio, as Soviet Union bears the brunt of WWII, in terms of soldiers and men killed in action. Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities, with estimates falling between 22 to 27 millions, most of them men. It also highlighted that gender imbalance took an extremely long term to reverse, from 75% in 1950 to reach 86% now.
5. Moscow is top 5 in the world in terms of number of billionaires in the city.
Although Russian GDP per capita is a respectable $12,000, Moscow has 53 billionaires according to Forbes. It stood 5th in the world.
6. 76% of the population live in European side of Russia
Since most of the uninhabitable Siberia fall within Asia, 76% of the Russia population reside within European continent.
7. Coldest town on earth.
Both the coldest town and the coldest city in the world is in Russia. The former is Oymyakon in the east, where the average temperature for the year stood at -15C. The latter is also in eastern Siberia, with more than 350,000 residents, enduring yearly average temperatures around -10C.
8. Bloodiest seize in the world
Between 1 million and 2.5 millions were killed during the seize of Leningrad (now St Petersberg). Beginning on September 8, 1941, the siege was especially hard on the civilian population, as the German blockade was successful in minimising any food which could make its way to the city.
9. Most casualty in WWII
Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities, with estimates falling between 22 to 27 millions, followed by China.
10. Most polluted lake on earth.
Unfortunately this lake is in Russia too. Lake Karachay is a small lake in central Russia. Containing just one square mile of water, the lake formed a dumping ground for nuclear waste by the Soviet Union for around 12 years between 1934 and 1957. Some areas surrounding the lake have enough radiation to give a lethal dose to a human in as little as 30 minutes.
