1867 63,658,934 5,705,607 1,794,911 4,583,640 2,626,246 3,327,627 81,696,965 1870-721 65,704,559 6,026,421 1,832,138 4,893,332 4,566,096 3,428,867 86,451,413 1882-83 77,879,521 7,083,475 2,142,093 6,534,853 5,237,354 4,093,535 102,970,831 1887 85,282,101 8,319,797 2,232,378 7,458,151 5,532,021 4,493,667 113,317,115 Average 1,081,158 130,710 21,873 143,725 140,289 58,302 1,581,057 Finland, 1872; Caucasus, 1871; Russia, Poland, Siberia, and Central Asia, 1870. * Finland, 1883; Caucasus, 1883; Russia, Poland, Siberia, and Central Asia, 1882. Increased by annexations and better registration. The following table exhibits the details of official estimatesreferring to the year 1887-concerning the area and population of the various political and geographical divisions of the Empire of Russia : In 1889 the island of Sakhalin was separated from the Primorsk province under a separate governor. The internal waters (lakes and estuaries) occupy the following areas, in square miles :-In European Russia, 25,804; in Finland, 18,471; in Siberia, 18,863; and in Central Asia, 19,855. The AREA AND POPULATION 851 Seas of Azov, Caspian, and Lake Aral cover an aggregate surface of 210,025 square miles. The superficies of all Russian provinces have been carefully revised by General Strelbitzky; his figures are given in the above for Russia in Asia; those for European Russia very slightly differ from the above, the total area of the Russian provinces of European Russia, with all islands and deltas, being now given at 1,902,227 English square miles. For the ethnical elements of the population see YEAR-BOOK 1885, p. 416. The populations of the Caucasus appear as follows, according to recent investigations : According to a recent partial census, the Jews number 2,843,364 in the western and south-western provinces of Russia (2,261,863 in towns), that is 113 per cent. of the aggregate population; 77,275 in the three townships of Odessa (73,389, i.e. 35.1 per cent. of population), Kertch, and Sebastopol; and 431,800 in five governments only of Poland out of ten (11 per cent. of population). Their aggregate number in Russia would thus exceed 3 millions. II. MOVEMENT OF THE POPULATION. The statistics of marriages, births, and deaths for 1888, if not otherwise mentioned, appear as follows: 43,097 immigrated, and 43,139 emigrated in 1886. The average surplus for the last three years was: 1,663,327 in European Russia, 157,979 in Poland, and 38,130 in Finland, giving thus a yearly surplus of more than 2,000,000 for the Empire. The maximum mortality was in Perm (45), Tobolsk and Orenburg (44), Stavropol (above 40); and the minimum in Baku, Elisabethpol, Erivan, Vitebsk. (16), and Courland (18). The maximum births were in Kuban (63), Orenburg, Samara and Tobolsk (60 to 54), while in several provinces it was more than 50 in the thousand. During the years 1867-81, 26.6 per cent. of all new-born children died before reaching the age of one year, and 42 per cent. before reaching five years. According to official statistics there was in Russia in Europe an excess of emigration over immigration in the case of Russians of 413,645 in ten years, 1876 to 1885; but the statistics are incomplete. Emigration is rapidly increasing. Of late the Russians, especially Jews, contributed a large part to the flow of emigrants into the United States; in Great Britain the Russians numbered in 1881 nearly as many as the French (15,271, much increased since). During the years 1871-85 8,767,605 foreigners entered Russia, but only 7,525,360 left, showing thus an immigration of 1,242,245 (563,345 Germans, 447,736 Austrians, 9,395 English, and nearly 100,000 Persians). The surplus of foreigners who entered Russia during the years 1886-88 (2,478,430) over those who left was 278,947, while the surplus of Russian subjects who left Russia (1,413,018) over those who returned was 136,129. III. PRINCIPAL TOWNS. The great majority of the population of Russia being agriculturists, they dwell in villages, and in 1886 the division of population in urban and rural, as also the division according to sex, in 1886, appeared as follows: The aggregate number of settlements reached, in 1886, 555,990 in the Empire; of these 1,281 (468 in Poland) had municipal institutions. The following are the populations of the principal towns, mostly according to estimates of 1885 and 1886, if not otherwise mentioned: Russia in Europe Towns 1 St. Petersburg Population Orel (1888) 78,404 77,223 . 56,179 75,478 Taganrog 56,047 Astrakhan(1888) 73,710 Vitebsk 54,676 69,033 Reval 51,277 67,618 Kovno 50,873 67,249 Nijni-Novgorod 66,716 There are 34 more towns, with populations of from 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants, in European Russia; and 164 towns with populations of more than 10,000 inhabitants. Religion. The established religion of the Empire is the Græco-Russian, officially called the Orthodox-Catholic Faith. It has its own independent synod, but maintains the relations of a sister Church with the four patriarchates of Constantinople, Jerusalem, Antioch, and Alexandria. The Holy Synod, the board of government of the Church, was established with the concurrence of the Russian clergy and the four Eastern patriarchs. The emperor is head of the Church; he appoints to every office in the Church, and is restricted only so far as to leave to the bishops and prelates the privilege of proposing candidates; and he transfers and dismisses persons from their offices in certain cases. But he has never claimed the right of deciding theological and dogmatic questions. Practically, the Procurator of the Holy Synod enjoys wide powers in Church matters. The points in which the Græco-Russian Church differs from the Roman Catholic faith are, its denying the spiritual supremacy of the Pope, its not enforcing the celibacy of the clergy, and its authorising all individuals to read and study the Scriptures in the vernacular tongue. With the exception of the restraints laid on the Jews, all religions may be freely professed in the Empire. The dissenters have been and are still, however, severely persecuted, though recently some liberty has been extended to those of the United Church.' It is estimated that there are more than 12,000,000 dissenters in Great Russia alone. The affairs of the Roman Catholic Church are entrusted to a Collegium, and those of the Lutheran Church to a Consistory, both settled at St. Petersburg. Roman Catholics are most |