Geography
Location: East Europe, and Northern and Central Asia
Total area: 22.402.200 sq. km. (22.272.000 sq. km. land area)
Area - comparative: slightly less than 2,5 times the size of USA
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
Disputes: US Government has not recognized the incorporation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union; Habomai Islands, Etorofu, Kunashiri, and Shikotan islands occupied by Soviet Union since 1945, claimed by Japan; Kuril Islands administered by Soviet Union; maritime dispute with Norway over portion of Barents Sea; has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other nation; Bessarabia question with Romania; Kurdish question among Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, and the USSR

People
Population: estimated 340.219.132 citizens (July 2006 est. -- 15,28 people per sq. km.)
Life expectancy rate:
Population structure:
Age structure:
Population growth rate: 1,0% (July 2006 est.)
Literacy:
Nationality:
Religion: 20% Russian Orthodox; 10% Muslim; 7% Protestant, Georgian Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Roman Catholic; less than 1% Jewish; 62% atheist (est.)
Languages: Russian; 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
Ethnic groups: 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%
Official State Language: None; Russian de-facto. In addition, each individual republic has its own official language(s).
Official State Religion: None

Government
Country name:
Capitol: Moscow
Form of government: Federation
Administrative division: 1 soviet federative socialist republic* (sovetskaya federativnaya sotsialistcheskaya respublika) and 14 soviet socialist republics (sovetskiye sotsialisticheskiye respubliki, singular--sovetskaya sotsialisticheskaya respublika); Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic*, Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic; note--the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is often abbreviated RSFSR and Soviet Socialist Republic is often abbreviated SSR.
Domain: .su
Independance: 30 December 1922 (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics estabilished among Russia, Byelorussia, Ukraine and Transcaucasia)
National holidays: Victory Day, 9 May (1945); Great Octobrist Socialist Revolution, 7-8 November (1917); Union Day, 30 December (1922)
National motto: Proletarii vseh Stran, Soedinyaiets! (Proletarians of All World, Unite!)
Constitution: 7 October 1977; last amended 12 September 1988
Suffrage: 18 years of age, universal and equal

National Anthem: Gimn Sovyetskogo Soyuza, (music by A. Aleksandrov - lyrics by S. Mikhalkov) - adopted 1944, lyrics updated 1977
Previous Anthems: Internatsional (music by Degeyter - lyrics by E. Pottier, translated by S. Kots) - adopted 1917, abolished 1944

National Flag: The hammer and sickle itself, originate from the unique Russian unity of the peasants (the sickle) with the workers (the hammer) who together formed the Soviet Russian state. The red field is symbolism of the blood that has been spilt by workers the world over in the fight for their emancipation, and was directly inherited from the red banner flown at the Paris Commune; the original and hitherto “base” symbol of a worker’s government flag. The single yellow star is both the representation of the life and immense energy of the sun, empty because within is the blood or production of workers struggle; and also the five points of the star symbolize the single unity and international representation of the government — each of the five points is representative of the five (up to then known/recognized) continents.

Soviet flag with hammer, sickle and star was not created in 1918! It was adopted in 1923. The star on the flag was red with yellow border (not plain red). Only the coat of arms and some military colours were with hammer and sickle in 1918. Hammer and sickle existed in soviet symbolism since 1917.

The flag from the reverse side, according to the Soviet constitution, since 1980 has no hammer and sickle, nor star.
Coat of Arms: The state emblem of the Soviet Union (corresponding to a coat of arms) has the Earth superimposed by the hammer and sicle.

Two bundles of corn ears heavily draped with a scroll, reading in all the 15 SSR languages the motto «workers of the world, unite thee»; the bundles encirle an earth globe (viewed approx. from the vertical of the Black Sea) showing solid continents and coordinate lines in 20 deg. intervals. On it a hammer and a sickle, crossed per saltire, in naturalistic look. Under the globe a rising sun with alternating long and short rays made of single lines (approx. 30 visible rays); above the globe a double fimbriated dense star.

• In 1936-1946 the soviet state emblem had 11 ribbons (without estonian, latvian, lithuanian and moldavian)
  
• In 1946-1956 - 16 ribbons (15 + karelian-finnish)
  
• Since 1956 - 15 ribbons.
  

Armed Forces
Branches: Ground forces, Navy, Air forces, Air defense forces, Strategic rocket forces
Intelligence and other armed agencies: KGB, MVD, GRU
Number of military personnel: 4.178.000 (1,23% of the population)
Budget: $546,8 billion (5,4% of the GDP)
Supreme Commander of the Soviet Armed Forces: Marshal Vladimir M. Dimitrov
Policy on WMD: Use of weapons of mass destruction when no other means of resolution of a crisis deemed possible.

Federal Government
President of the Soviet Union: Gennady A. Zyuganov (also Chairman of the Supreme Soviet)
Premier of the Soviet Union: Irina M. Nevskaya (also First Vice-Chairman of the Supreme Soviet)
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Maxim L. Leonov
Minister of Internal Affairs: Valentyna A. Balakhonova
Minister of National Defence: General Georgi V. Pukhov
Minister of Economics: Aleksandra A. Aleksandrova
Minister of Transportation: Aado I. Adamson
Minister of Healthcare: Sergei Y. Asimov
Minister of Education: Yuri Y. Yuriev
Minister of Culture: Fyodor F. Balakhunin
Minister of Justice: Ilona V. Gorbunova
Minister of Nationalities: Natalya A. Pukhova
Minister of Communications: Unegen Q. Olzvoi
Minister of Science: Ruslana M. Ledovskaya
Minister of Agriculture: Yusuf B. Ganiyev
Minister of Environment: Roman E. Aksionov
Legislative branch: The Congress of People's Deputies is the supreme organ of the USSR state power, with 2.250 members, that councils once a year and has authority over matters of major importance, such as amending the constitution. There is also the bicameral USSR Supreme Soviet (Verkhovnyy Sovyet) which consists of two coequal houses--Council of the Union (Sovyet Soyuza) and Council of Nationalities (Sovyet Natsionalnostey), with 750 members each, which takes most decisions but the most important (eg constitutional changes) which are taken by the Congress of People's Deputies. The members of the Supreme Soviet are elected by the members of the Congress of People's Deputies from among themselves, who in turn are elected directly by the population.

Economy
Monetary Unit: 1 Soviet Union ruble (SUR), consisting of 100 kopecks (SU R0,6300 = US $1 - US $1,5873 = SU R1,00)
GNP: purchasing power parity - $10,125 trillion (2006 est.)
GNP per capita: purchasing power parity - $29.763 (2006 est.)
GNP, real growth rate: 9,32% (official data) (2006 est.)
GNP, composition by sector:
Agriculture: Grain, potatoes, livestock, sugar beets, and other
Mining: Natural gas, petroleum, coal, materials used in construction, gold, copper, clays, iron ore, silver, diamonds, nickel, and other
Manufacturing: Chemicals, transportation equipment, food products, industrial machinery, electronic equipment, printed materials, fabricated metal products, armaments, heavy machinery, and other
Exports: $172,5 billion (2004 est.)
Imports: $102,91 billion (2004 est.)
Major exports: Machinery, wood and wood products, transportation equipment, electric and electronic equipment, chemicals, precision instruments, agricultural products, grain, primary metal products, armaments, crude petroleum and natural gas
Major imports: Transportation equipment, electric and electronic equipment, machinery, apparel, chemicals, food products
Major trade partners for exports: Eastern Europe, China, European Community, Cuba, India, United States, Afghanistan, other
Major trade partners for imports: Eastern Europe, European Community, China, Cuba, India, United States, other

Energy, communications, and transportation
Electricity per source:

Thermal Sources: 7,1 percent
Hydroelectric Sources: 27,8 percent
Nuclear Sources: 59,7 percent
Geothermal, Solar and Wind sources: 5,4 percent

Number of Radios per 1.000 people: 1.125
Number of Telephones per 1.000 people: 959
Number of Televisions per 1.000 people: 980
Number of Internet Hosts per 10.000 people: 7.620
Number of motor vehicles per 1.000 people: 18*
Daily newspaper circulation per 1000 people: 717
Paved roads as a share of national roads: 67 percent (2006)